Advertising revenue for metropolitan commercial radio stations has increased 16.3% to almost $120m, compared with the same period last year.

Metropolitan ad revenue for the five mainland capital cities is up 14.5% to $43.4m, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Radio Revenue Performance figures.

This follows the release of CEASA’s Advertising Expenditure in Main Media figures, as reported yesterday by radioinfo, revealing total radio ad revenue (metropolitan and regional) rose 4.9% to $737m for the 12 months to December, the third successive year of growth.

The CEASA figures show ad revenue for metropolitan radio (national and non-national advertiser categories) went up to $485m in 2003 (up 6.2%). Regional radio (national and non-national) grew to $239m (up 4.6%).

With the PwC figures, Commercial Radio Australia CEO, Joan Warner, says: “Brisbane has recorded the strongest growth in March of 32%, followed by Melbourne, 18%, and Sydney, 10.9%.

“Despite the recent increase in media choices, radio continues to attract large and relatively stable audiences and this makes it an attractive option for marketers.

“The data from CEASA (Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia) demonstrates radio’s consistency in a competitive marketplace.

“While we are pleased about the growth in revenues, the industry has a long battle ahead of it to lift overall share of total ad expenditure, which remains around 8%.”

The industry is undertaking an on air brand campaign to promote radio as an advertising medium, commissioning research into radio advertising effectiveness and hosting creative workshops. This is part of a strategy to convince advertisers of radio’s benefits and to allocate a larger portion of their budgets to radio.