So, What's Going On?

The RAB released the January revenue figures that, to say the least, were not very good.

Here's the bad news:

RADIO ADVERTISING BUREAU RADIO REVENUE POOL NUMBERS
Jan. 2008 vs. Jan. 2007

Local Revenue All Markets -5%
National Revenue All Markets -13%
Local & Nat'l Revenue All Markets -7%
Non-Spot Revenue All Markets 11%
Grand Total Revenue All Markets -6%

Local and national revenues are based on approximately 150 markets as reported by the accounting firm of Miller Kaplan Arase & Co. Non-Spot data has been collected and verified since January of 2002, and reported since September of 2004. As previously announced, the RAB will report quarterly Radio revenue in dollar amounts beginning with the 2007 results. Monthly percentage growth rates will continue to be available on the RAB website at www.RAB.com. The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) is the sales and marketing arm of the Radio industry with nearly 7,000 members including close to 6,000 stations in the U.S., and over 1,000 associate members in networks, representative firms, sales, and international organizations.

As you can see the only bright spot was non-spot revenue which increased 11% year over year. It's good to see that "new media" is getting some traction, but we all know this is not going to compensate for the spot revenue loss.

Is this a double whammy for radio? A soft ad market coupled with an uncertain economy? Could be. But these numbers hit like a ton of bricks.

One thing struck me as I was reading these numbers, right at the top of the release is the RAB logo, contact information and "slug line."

230 Million people listen to radio every week. One would think a platform that robust would have more business than they could handle. Obviously, there's much more to this story than total users--like perceptions, predispositions, people, content, buzz, momentum, structure, competition, etc.

I read in one of the trades that some radio managers said the next couple months were looking better...I hope so.

Live From Atlanta-The RAB!

The RAB conference is underway in Atlanta and I believe it just might be the most important radio industry gathering of the year.

Right now there is nothing more important than growing revenue. Yes, we have significant programming challenges ahead, but until the revenue picture improves little or nothing will improve on the programming side.

Let's hope the attendees in Atlanta come up with some creative ways to jump start the sales effort. We're counting on them!

This year the RAB, I believe for the first time, is making the audio of all of the sessions available via live stream. You can listen in here.