Report: Radio Expected To Lose 1.2 Percent In Revenue

A new Borrell Associates report predicts that local advertising will climb 16.4% from $113 billion in 2015 to $132 billion this year, a bolder prognostication than the single-digit growth more commonly expected for local.

Driving that growth will be $5.5 billion from state and local election advertising and $17 billion more spending from local business on digital media. Digital will comprise half of local advertising expenditures, the report finds, rising to two-thirds of all ad expenditures by 2020.

Breaking ad spending down by medium, Borrell sees digital leading dramatically, taking a 49.8% share ($65.9 billion) followed by newspapers with 10.3% ($13.5 billion), television at 9.1% ($12 billion) and radio at 7.6% ($10 billion).

According to TV Newscheck, Categorically, online also has the biggest growth rate at 36.4%. TV trails with 19.7% and cable with 5.6%, while outdoor and magazines will see marginal growth with 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively. Some categories will see loses, the report says, the biggest being directories (-6.2%), followed by newspapers (-4.6%), direct mail (-4.5%) and radio (-1.2%).