The commercial radio industry has recorded growth of nearly 8% for the first quarter of 2010, following a strong increase of over 15% in March, according to figures released today by Commercial Radio Australia. The strongest growth for the March quarter was in Sydney and Perth.

The 2010 Metropolitan Commercial Radio Advertising Revenue, sourced by Deloitte, shows first quarter advertising revenue in the five metropolitan markets grew 7.71% compared to the same timeframe last year, to a total of $151.1 million.

The strongest growth for the quarter was in Sydney, up 11.23% to $47.5 million,

followed by Perth, up 10.62% to $20.77 million;

Brisbane up 5.5% to $24.2 million;

Melbourne up 5.44% to $44.3 million and

Adelaide up 3.45% to $14.2 million.

Figures for the month of March for the five metropolitan markets show an increase of 15.58% compared to the same timeframe last year, to a total of $59.2 million. Sydney recorded the strongest growth of 21% to $18.95 million; the Perth market grew by 20.97% to $7.87 million; Adelaide was up by 16.07% to $5.578 million; the Melbourne market grew by 12.5% to $17.3 million and Brisbane grew by 6.9% to $9.4 million.

Chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia Joan Warner says this is good news for the industry, which is performing well in a very competitive media market. “The market has now recorded growth in advertising revenue each month since November, which obviously followed a challenging 2009, and this augurs well for the year ahead.”

Warner says the growth and take-up of digital radio, will also provide new opportunities for increased advertising and this is an area currently being explored by the industry.