Radio is slowly recovering from the impacts of the pandemic, reaching total revenue of $1.07 billion in 2021, and is forecast to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024, according to PwC.
PwC, in its annual entertainment and Media Outlook, forecasts the radio sector to reach $1.22 billion by 2026, growing at a 3.7% compound annual rate, based on its midpoint forecast.
Digital audio listenership, which includes live AM, FM and DAB+ radio and catch up radio programmes listened to via online streaming platforms, reached record highs in 2021.
According to the sixth annual Infinite Dial Australia study, published by Edison Research, the number of Australians listening to online audio each week grew by 8%, reaching a total of 71% of the population.
The average time spent listening to online radio audio also increased to 13 hours and 31 minutes per week, up from 12 hours and 11 minutes last year.
In response, radio operators are increasingly turning to live and on-demand streaming services as part of their long-term digitisation strategies.
SCA’s LiSTNR network hit a record high of 10.9 millions active streams in May 2021, up 20% on the same month in 2020.
Nine was also reported to have reached a record high of 11.2 million streams in July 2021.
Radio stations’ websites and apps were the most popular platforms listeners used.
PwC: "The digital transformation of radio broadcasting is expected to continue to drive listenership and grow radio networks’ revenue by enabling more targeted and personalised content.
"The growth in online listenership, is expected to be one of the key drivers of advertising revenue growth in the sector as networks seek to monetise these digital placements with the addition of first party data and via increasingly sophisticated programmatic trading capabilities.
"Though low in absolute terms, revenue from digital streaming of radio network broadcasts is expected to grow rapidly."
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