Commercial radio has recorded strong growth in advertising revenue for the past year, with a 12% increase to $520 million.

Metropolitan ad revenue, for the five mainland capitals to the end of June, has grown most strongly in past six months – 16%, compared to 8% in the preceding half year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers Radio Revenue Performance figures.

Joan Warner, Commercial Radio Australia CEO, says the industry has delivered a very strong performance and this is an excellent result.

“Growth has also more than doubled compared to the 2003 financial year, when advertising revenue grew by about 5% (PwC figures) – so this is a very strong result for the commercial radio industry.

“These figures also highlight the effectiveness of the industry’s $40 million national campaign, which promotes the benefits of advertising on radio.”

Warner says the highly successful brand campaign has been well supported by the industry and will continue for a further 12 months, with a new series of ads launched this month.

“The year long campaign has exceeded our expectations in terms of generating awareness and altering the perceptions of radio and, now obviously, has also helped deliver more dollars to the bottom line.

“Our job is to build on the campaign’s success; ensure radio continues to grow its ad revenue and, ultimately, convert these dollars into a larger slice of the overall advertising pie.”

The latest PwC figures show growth for the 12 months to June in all metropolitan markets, with Brisbane the strongest (19% to $74m); Melbourne (13% to $138m); Perth (10% to $51m); Sydney (10% to $210m) and Adelaide (6% to $48m).

Warner says the industry will continue to work hard on a number of other initiatives, aimed at convincing advertisers’ about radio’s benefits and also to allocate a larger portion of their marketing budgets to radio.