The Australian radio sector is “increasingly concentrated from the perspective of both audiences and commercial advertisers,” according to the latest Communications, Media, and Internet Concentration report.
The report analyzes market concentration across 12 telecommunications, internet, media and online services markets in Australia from 2019 to 2022.
With ARN’s take over of Grant Broadcasters, it has increased its share of the radio market. The report says:“While most firms have maintained a consistent stream of revenue, ARN Media (formerly HT&E Ltd) appears to have experienced significant growth over this period to become one of the more significant players in the market.”Australian radio in 2019 had a concentration ratio of 57% according to the report’s methodology. It now has a concentration ratio of 77%.
Revenue results for the Australian Radio sector show steady growth, with revenue rising from $1,205 million to $1,405 over the reporting period.
The report also includes ABC and SBS in its revenue table, noting that the ABC is government funded as its revenue source.
SCA has the highest revenue share according to the table, with ARN fast catching up from 2021.
The report says:
The Australian radio sector is increasingly concentrated from the perspective of both audiences and commercial advertisers. Indeed, over the 2019-2022 period, the degree of market concentration in the Australian radio sector has significantly increased in terms of both the CR4 and HHI metrics.
As concentration in the Radio sector has increased from 2019 to 2022, the top four operators, Southern Cross Media, ABC, ARN and Nova now have a market share of 77%, up from 57%. This is attributable in part due considerable market growth by ARN Media.
The HHI results are also indicative of a moderately concentrated market from 2021 onwards, sitting in the low end of the range for the US Justice Department’s guidelines of 1500 to 2500 for a “moderately concentrated” market.
As with broadcast television, we need to note that one of the four largest radio broadcasters is the publicly funded ABC, with SBS Radio also having a small market share. As a result, the extent of market concentration is disguised to some degree by the significant role played by public broadcasters, particularly the ABC, in the overall media market. As both ABC and SBS are exclusively (ABC) or largely (SBS) funded by government revenues, the figures we report for the CR4 and HHI understate the degree of concentration among those radio services that are reliant exclusively upon
commercial revenues.
The report does not include community radio, perhaps understandable in terms of revenue, but not in terms on number of stations and audience reach.
Each week, nearly 5 million Australians tune in to over 450 not-for-profit, community-owned radio stations across the country. These stations deliver programming tailored to the interests and needs of their local communities, reflecting Australia’s open society, strong democracy, and vibrant culture, a factor that is important in the face of increased concentration in the other sectors. 76% of community stations are in regional and remote areas and 24% are in metropolitan areas.
The report covers television, internet and newspapers, with a wealth of information about revenue and concentration for each sector.
The full report is available here.