Digital Audio and Branded Content Drive Growth in Radio Market in H1

Increased revenues from digital audio and branded content like sponsorships and other partnerships made a significant contribution to the growth in commercial revenues generated by the Irish commercial radio sector in the first half of 2024, according to Radiocentre Ireland.

Overall, the Irish radio advertising market  saw revenues increase by 2% to €77.9m for the January to June 2024 period. This was made up of €77.9m in spot revenue (radio ads) which was flat for the period. However, branded content revenue (sponsorships, partnerships, content solutions) came to €14.8m up 9%, while digital audio revenue was €3.5m for the period, an increase of 8.3%.

According to Radiocentre Ireland, digital audio revenues are from Irish radio operators and the figures do not include revenues from global audio players like Spotify or Acast.

When it comes to a breakdown of the source of revenue, €54.2m came from bookings made by media agencies, a 2.6% increase on 2023 while €23.7m came directly from advertisers.  while the million, up 2.6% while revenue coming directly from advertisers were flat at €23.7m.

According to Radiocentre Ireland, the largest spending categories on radio continue to be retail, household services (utilities, telcos), government, finance and motors.

“It is great to see further growth in radio revenue following on from such strong revenue growth in 2022 and 2023,” says Ciaran Cunningham, CEO, Radiocentre Ireland.

“It is also great to see that advertisers recognise the power and the reach of the medium as they continue to increase investment. And we are positive about the rest of 2024, considering May and June recorded the highest levels of revenue growth year to date”.