Radio USA: per la pubblicità è già dopo-crisi

Dati negativi se confrontati al 2008, ma incoraggianti se analizzati in una prospettiva più generale. Il valore pubblicitario della radio negli Stati Uniti secondo il Radio Advertising Bureau avrebbe superato la boa dei valori minimi raggiunta tra fine 2008 e inizio 2009. Il secondo trimestre di quest'anno mostra infatti un rallentamento della contrazione, con un valore di 4,1 miliardi di dollari. Nei primi due semestri, il fatturato pubblicitario si attesta sui 7,7 miliardi, con un netto predominio delle inserzioni locali: 5,1 miliardi di dollari. In crescita sono gli incassi che provengono dalle promozioni pubblicitarie "off-air", in particolare quelle della categoria "digitale" (siti Web, mobile) che incassano 221 milioni di dollari nei primi sei mesi dell'anno (il quale dovrebbe chiudersi con 298 milioni di fatturato) e in proiezione dovrebbero fruttare alle casse delle stazioni 426 milioni nel 2010 e 908 milioni nel 2013.

Il localismo della radio sembra attirare in modo particolare la categoria merceologica che ha scalzato, al primo posto della classifica degli inserzionisti più generosi, l'industria dell'auto, storico numero uno. Oggi gli spot radiofonici delle case automobilistiche sono solo la terza fonte di reddito. Al primo ci sono... I ristoranti, in particolare le grandi catene. E non stiamo parlando di McDonald's o Domino's Pizza, ma di brand come Subway, Dunkin' Donuts e Romano's Macaroni Grill, catena di griglierie che sul suo sito Web organizza addirittura un corso online di lingua italiana, all'insegna di un accattivante "Parli italiano? If you want to know enough to be dangerous..." (se vuoi saperne abbastanza da essere pericoloso...).
Dopo la ristorazione, la categoria più ricca è quella degli operatori di telefonia, seguiti dall'automobile e, al quarto posto, le compagnie di tv via cavo, che guarda caso devono rivolgersi alla radio per convincere nuovi abbonati. Al settimo posto troviamo l'abbigliamento e gli accessori, dove tra i big spender radiofonici compare il marchio italiano Luxottica (che nel secondo trimestre ha investito 3,3 milioni di dollari in spot radiofonici USA).
Cliccate qui per scaricare l'intero report in PDF dal sito del RAB.

Conti sempre più in rosso per le radio commerciali USA

L'audience è in crescita ma i fatturati pubblicitari sono in drammatico calo, fino al 10% anno su anno. E l'industria della radio commerciale americana comincia a chiedersi se il mezzo riuscirà a salvarsi, anche perché invertire la rotta in questo scenario di crisi non sarà certo facile. Questo articolo del New York Times parla anche delle speranze che gli operatori cominciano a nutrire nell'affermazione del sistema HD Radio, sottolineando il buon momento di cui la tecnologia sembra godere nel comparto dell'auto (dove però i venti di crisi soffiano ancora più impetuosi). In effetti Volvo USA ha ribadito il suo "commitment" su HD Radio, annunciando modelli di autoradio HD in tutti i modelli dal 2009. Mentre Ford scrive alla FCC per commentare - molto negativamente - la controversa proposta di obbligare i costruttori a integrare la funzionalità HD in tutti i terminali utilizzati per sintonizzarsi sulla radio digitale satellitare. Ford chiede esplicitamente di poter continuare a perseguire le proprie strategie HD Radio nell'after market dell'autoradio senza dover sopportare i costi dell'integrazione di tecnologie diverse e senza far ricadere questi costi sui consumatori, che devono avere la possibilità di scegliere il sistema che ritengono ottimale e non sussidiare questo o quello standard di radio digitale.

November 26, 2008
Radio’s Revenue Falls Even as Audience Grows
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

CAN radio save itself?

Listeners are diverted by iPods and Internet and satellite radio. Companies are loaded with debt. Advertisers are heading to television or the Web — and the advertisers that have continued to advertise on radio, like auto dealers and retailers, are being hit by the economic crisis and pulling back.
And even though the audience for broadcast radio is actually growing, stations cannot seem to increase their revenue. Radio advertising was down 10 percent last month from October 2007, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau, the 18th consecutive month of declines.
And the third-quarter numbers are dismal. CBS Radio reported a revenue drop of 12 percent. Citadel Broadcasting’s revenue dropped by 10.9 percent. CC Media Holdings, which owns Clear Channel Communications, said radio revenue was down 7 percent. Cox Radio revenue fell 6.2 percent; Emmis Communications’ radio revenue decreased 1.5 percent; and Radio One revenue was down 2 percent.
Problems in the radio industry have been piling up for years, said Marci L. Ryvicker, an analyst at Wachovia Capital Markets. In the 1990s, radio companies consolidated, then began increasing the ad time available. “They started to fight for share, instead of being proactive and thinking of new ways to generate revenue,” Ms. Ryvicker said.
Then, when advertisers decreased their spending around 2001, radio stations were stuck with too much time and too few advertisers. “There was too much inventory out there, and rates kept going down, down, down,” Ms. Ryvicker said. Recent years have not changed the fortunes of radio. Many companies borrowed money to buy back their stock, leaving them saddled with debt.
And the industries that supported radio advertising — finance, retail and autos — have all been particularly hard-hit by the current economy. Radio advertising declined 8 percent in the second quarter of this year from a year earlier, according to TNS Media Intelligence. That was worse than any other category except newspapers.
From an advertiser’s perspective, the consolidation of radio companies has resulted in sound-alike stations, said Jim Poh, vice president and a director of analytics and media planning at Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which handles radio ads for clients like Burger King and Domino’s.
“The group ownerships in various markets tended to blunt the edges of the formats, so that each of the stations could play across more demographic groups, and that way could share more of the revenue from various advertisers,” Mr. Poh said. “The downfall of that is the medium isn’t as relevant, the stations aren’t as relevant to people as they were.”
There are some signs of hope, though. The radio audience is increasing: radio now reaches more than 235 million listeners in a week, versus 232 million last year, according to a study by Arbitron. But those people are listening to the radio less: fewer than 19 hours a week, versus about 20.4 in 2005.
Stations in small markets are doing relatively well. Stations in the 10 biggest markets had revenue drop about 12 to 15 percent this year. Stations in the smallest markets, though, have been about flat, Leland Westerfield, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets, said. “The ad agency-placed business that predominates in larger cities has been subject to a greater level of pricing pressure,” Mr. Westerfield said.
Radio executives are hoping that HD Radio will catch on with consumers. “We’re beginning to see revenue-generation opportunities for radio broadcasters” on HD stations, said Robert J. Struble, the chief executive of iBiquity Digital, which develops and licenses the technology.
HD Radio lets stations transmit on digital signals, which allow each FM station to broadcast on two to eight channels, theoretically making the medium competitive with satellite radio. But consumers have to buy a special radio to hear the digital stations, and only about 500,000 units were sold through September, iBiquity said. The radios have been available since 2004.
Consumers listen to the radio most frequently in the car and in the office, and so far, have little reason to pay for an upgraded radio in those places. And automakers, which have other problems, are not embracing the technology; so far, only Volvo is offering HD Radio as a standard feature in its new cars (it is standard in all but one of its 2009 models). “HD radio is pretty much going to be nonexistent, because they can’t figure out how to get the auto guys to include that as an option, and the auto guys that do include HD don’t let the consumers know about it,” Ms. Ryvicker of Wachovia Capital Markets said. “It’s been a horribly marketed product that’s not going to save the radio industry.”
Mr. Struble objected to that characterization. “For a number of years, we were very focused on getting stations to convert,” he said, adding that about 1,900 stations now broadcast on a digital signal. “The attention has now turned to the consumer side.” He said there was “a lot of momentum” with the auto industry.
Still, with only 500,000 radios in use, a lot of the technologies available for HD Radio, like one that allows listeners to “tag” a song and buy it later from iTunes, are going unused.
Radio companies are taking other small steps into the future — several have created free iPhone applications, for example, which are popular. Still, it’s a scramble, analysts said.
“I think things will get better if the economy recovers,” Ms. Ryvicker said, “but I can’t imagine this sector going from negative double-digits in Q4 to positive anytime soon.

Brasile, il settore radiofonico vale 600 milioni

Quasi 1,7 miliardi di reais (poco meno di 630 milioni di euro), questo il valore del mercato radiofonico commerciale in Brasile secondo uno studio pubblicato dalla locale associazione delle emittenti radiotelevisive (Abert) e curato dalla Fondazione Getulio Vargas. Il settore radiotelevisivo occupava nel 2006 ben 150mila persone e rappresentava quasi mezzo punto percentuale del PIL nazionale. Il 90% del fatturato è legato alla pubblicità e curiosamente il settore merceologico che investe di più in comunicazione alla radio è quello del commercio e dell'abbigliamento. In Brasile sono censite tremila stazioni e la programmazione più popolare è la musica nazionale, trasmessa dal 38% delle stazioni FM e dal 21% delle AM.

FGV mostra que rádios faturaram R$ 1,67 bilhão em 2007

Brasil - Pesquisa realizada pela Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) divulgada na manhã desta terça-feira, 23, pela Associação Brasileira de Emissoras de Rádio e Televisão (Abert) revela que as rádios brasileiras tiveram receita de R$ 1,67 bilhão em 2007.
Deste total, 89,2% são provenientes da publicidade, sendo que 58,2% da contratação de espaço via agências e 31% por meio de ações diretas das emissoras. Dados que, segundo o presidente da Abert, Daniel Slaviero, reforçam a necessidade da entidade trabalhar junto ao Legislativo e ao Executivo para evitar que projetos que propõem maior restrição à publicidade avancem.
"Fica muito clara a dependência do setor do mercado publicitário. Na verdade é um mercado livre, aberto e gratuito, financiado exclusivamente pelos seus anunciantes. Qualquer iniciativa que vise a restrição de produtos que são legalmente autorizados a produzir e distribuir, entendemos como ameaça a liberdade de expressão comercial", afirmou Slaviero.
Dentro desta perspectiva de receitas, o setor varejista é o que mais investe em anúncios no rádio: 45%; em seguida aparece o setor de telecomunicações com 8,2% do total de anúncios, perfumaria e farmácia com participação de 7%, os governos estaduais representam 6,7% do bolo, os municipais 6,2% e a administração federal investe 4,9% da sua verba nas emissoras de rádio do país. As bebidas alcoólicas que vem enfrentando restrições à veiculação de propaganda, correspondem a 1,5% do faturamento das rádios.
O economista da FGV, Márcio Couto, destacou que todo o setor de radiodifusão ?-incluindo a televisão - gera 143,5 mil empregos diretor e 159,1 mil trabalhos indiretos. Isso, de acordo com Couto, evidencia a força que o setor possui no país, além de representar 0,49% do Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) de 2006.
O pesquisador ressaltou ainda que, além de mostrar a receita do rádio, o levantamento mensurou os custos das emissoras de rádio."Identificamos que 62,9% dos custos das empresas estão relacionados à administração e pessoal, 14,1% correspondem à remuneração de agências e os demais custos são de energia, telecomunicações, manutenção, entre outros", explicou o economista.
O levantamento partiu da base cadastrada de 3006 emissoras de rádio comerciais - 1556 foram contatadas e 917 responderam. Do total de respostas, 464 eram emissoras AM e 453 FM. Para o presidente da Abert, esse alcance possibilitou chegar ao verdadeiro número do faturamento do setor de rádio no país.
A pesquisa constatou ainda que, na grade de programação das rádios FM do país, a maior parte (37,5%) é de música nacional, seguida por 20,3% de programas de variedade e 17,8% de canções estrangeiras. Já nas rádios AM, 24,2% é de programas de variedades e 21,1% é de música nacional. A música estrangeira aparece somente com 3,3% de participação nessas emissoras.
Slaviero afirmou que agora o trabalho da entidade será reforçar aos empresários a importância de responder ao trabalho já consolidado e de referência desenvolvido pelo Intermeios, que hoje alcança 113 rádios e estimou faturamento de R$ 767,2 milhões para o setor em 2007. "Cabe a nós da Abert e às entidades locais trabalharmos para que as emissoras informem ao Intermeios, já que ele é o meio tradicional e que já trabalha com informações bastante confiáveis", ressaltou Slaviero.
89,2% da receita é formada pela publicidade; dados servirão para Abert brigar para o fim das restrições ao mercado publicitário. Em novembro a Abert deve apresentar os dados relativos à televisão.

Fonte: Meio & Mensagem - Alexandre Bicca
às Quarta-feira, Setembro 24, 2008

India e Canada, la radio commerciale incassa

Se le stazioni commerciali americane lamentano vistosi cali di rendimento pubblicitario, in nazioni come India e Canada l'industria della radiofonia privata afferma invece di essere molto soddisfatta. In India il fenomeno delle stazioni FM ha avuto un questi anni una crescita incredibile. Da 30 a oltre 90 città coperte, 8 miliardi di rupie - nell'articolo qui in calce si parla di "crore", unità di misura indiana equivalente ai nostri 10 milioni - di fatturato pubblicitario (circa 120 milioni di euro), con uno spot radiofonico che costa il 65% in meno di uno televisivo e ha un bacino d'ascolto del 64% più esteso, mentre lo stesso investimento porta 760 spot radiofonici e 3 inserzioni sulla stampa.
Ma anche in Canada, dove peraltro prosegue l'abbandono delle frequenze delle onde medie (a eccezione della porzione 1610-1700, dove aumenta il numero di low power di nicchia) a favore dell'FM, sono contenti di come sono andate le cose nel 2007, malgrado la concorrenza subita dalle nuove tecnologie.

FM radio making rapid strides, revenue expected to touch Rs 800 cr this year
T E Narasimhan / Chennai August 27, 2008

The entry of private players has boosted the fortunes of FM radio in a big way in the country. This has been consistently reflecting in the revenue earned by the industry, which grew to Rs 550 crore last year from Rs 350 crore a year ago. The industry is expected to close with over Rs 800 crore in revenue this year.
Apurva Purohit, president, Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI), and CEO of Radio City 91.1FM, said that FM radio channels are making rapid strides by having a presence in 91 cities as against 30 cities about two years ago. This has resulted in a growth in reach, which is faster than TV, reaching out to over 85 per cent of the Indian audience.
On cost, radio campaign turns out to be 65 per cent less expensive than TV while delivering 64 per cent larger reach. Speaking of print, the same investment on radio delivers 760 spots compared to a 3-print insertions at 11 per cent lower cost.
Again, a radio campaign with the same outlay as television runs longer with a 54 per cent lower cost.
Purohit also said radio is one of the preferred entertainment medium available today since people look for mobile entertainment. Indians spend over 75 minutes on radio per day. This is three times more than the time spent on print, said Purohit. She also noted that around 16 per cent of the listeners tune to FM through mobile phone.
Again, the FM audience is greatly skewed towards decision makers – be it working males or home makers. Thus, when it comes to quality of audience, radio reaches out to these two core groups which comprise every advertiser’s target, mainly for FMCG, retail, automobile, finance and interestingly TV programmes. As the television and print mediums are becoming costlier, radios are now attracting more advertisers.
This has attracted more players – currently there are about 40 entrepreneurs in the industry. From 2005, the government has earned around Rs 1,160 crore as licence fee. These players have invested over Rs 900 crore in expansion and are investing over Rs 800 crore as running cost.
The investment will go further if the government opts for de-licensing the industry. “At present, multiple frequencies are not allowed for a single channel. This stifles growth for channels like ours to experiment. We will be interested to participate in phase III of the FM channels bidding, if government allows, we would like to start a chat station, classical music to increase niche listenership and increase ad revenues from the medium,” said Purohit.
The foreign direct investment limit is also low at 20 per cent compared with other industries. If the government raises the FDI limit, many foreign investors are likely to enter the Indian market.
FM broadcasting is also facing manpower problem, said Purohit. Attrition level is around 25 per cent. Companies like Radio City 91.1FM have to take fresher and invest heavily in training them.

***

Private radio prospering in spite of popular new technologies: StatsCan

OTTAWA — A new report says traditional radio is prospering in spite of new technologies such as satellite radio, online radio and portable digital players.
Statistics Canada says advertising revenue among private radio broadcasters advanced six per cent to $1.5 billion in 2007.
That's the third time in five years radio advertising growth has outpaced advertising market growth as a whole.
And private radio reported 19.8 cents of profit per dollar of revenue last year before interest and taxes - that's the industry's third best result in 30 years, after 2006 and 2005.
FM radio generated 78.3 per cent of advertising revenues and 94.6 per cent of profits before interest and taxes last year.
StatsCan attributes private radio's recent financial successes largely to economic growth and industry restructuring.
It says regulatory changes in 1998 allowed for greater concentration of ownership, which helped radio withstand the competition from other media.
The industry also rationalized its operations by transferring AM stations to the generally more popular and more profitable FM band.
Furthermore, radio stations operating in the five largest census metropolitan areas last year generated almost twice as much profit before interest and taxes per dollar of revenue as stations operating in smaller markets.

Radio USA, anno nero per la raccolta pubblicitaria. E ora?

L'altro giorno leggevo la notizia, ripresa oggi da Newsline, del superamento, in Francia, dei fatturati pubblicitari Internet su quelli radiofonici. E in Francia, badate bene, uno spot radiofonico tende a valere parecchio più che da noi, che la pubblicità siamo abituati a svenderla, non a venderla (con buona pace dei vari presidenti imprenditori). A riportare queste notizie ci ho rinunciato, sono trend ormai consolidati, non ci possiamo fare niente, Internet diventerà più forte della radio, dei giornali e, un giorno, forse anche della televisione (sempre che un giorno sia possibile fare distinzioni tra i mezzi elettronici).
Non posso però astenermi dal citare queat'altra notizia da AdWeek sull'inesorabile contrazione dei fatturati pubblicitari radiofonici negli USA. I dati sono incontrovertibili e ci racconto di un mezzo che sembra aver rinunciato a combattere.
Di questo parere è l'analista Jim Boyle, di CL King & Associates. Boyle accusa gli editori radiofonici di non voler far nulla per invertire una tendenza che forse può essere contrastata investendo in innovazione (dei programmi e delle iniziative, non delle tecnologie) e in persone. Questo per esempio è il commento apparso su Radio&Records.com a proposito del rapporto appena pubblicato da CL King:

CL King & Associates senior analyst and senior VP Jim Boyle said on Tuesday (Aug. 19) that radio's July revenue will be down 6%-7% -- worse than the Street's projections of a 4% drop. Either way, it will be the 15th straight negative revenue month. "Radio has entered and seems stuck in a new, discouraging territory with the combined challenges of a secular slide and cyclical recessionary times," Boyle said in a note to investors.
Boyle also pointed out that in the nearly 40 markets' data from July he's analyzed, there's been a spread of 900 basis points between the average big-market drop and the average small-sized-market revenue increase. In July, the average big market was down 7% and mid-markets were off 5%, while the average small market was up 2%. "The consistently better small-market outperformance continues as radio's cyclical and secular decline overwhelms the few relative bright spots," Boyle said. "This might not change when the economy revives."
Noting that the average radio group guidance for the third quarter is down 5%, he says, "Little good news seems in the offing." He added that Q1 industry revenue was down 5%, Q2 revenue might have fallen 6%, and while the Street forecasts a Q3 industry revenue dip of only 2%, CL King forecasts a 5% Q3 revenue drop.
Responding to his own question, "What are radio leaders doing to change direction?" Boyle said, "Not much, it seems to us. The industry's larger groups do not appear ready to institute revolutionary changes yet in sales, programming, promotion or station clusters. There is a notable sense of denial of how harsh the prospects have been and continue to be for radio. The classic CEO reply is that radio is not bleeding as badly as newspapers. We concede there is too little radio ad demand, but there is also too little rate card integrity and too little investment in radio's product and people for the long-term. It very much looks to us as all rear-guard counter-punching."

E questo è quanto riportato su RadioInsights di Harker Research

Boyle: Groups Do Not Appear Ready to Institute Revolutionary Changes

Both Inside Radio and R&R Today reprinted the scathing assessment one Wall Street analyst offered regarding the state of radio. The two publications, however, chose to present different spins on the focus of his criticisms. Here’s how Inside Radio chose to summarize CL King & Associates senior analyst Jim Boyle’s comments on their front page on August 20th:
Boyle blasts radio’s largest groups for not doing enough to make the "revolutionary changes" necessary to help radio recover. He says "There is a notable sense of denial of how harsh the prospects have been and continue to be for radio. The classic CEO reply is radio is not bleeding as badly as newspapers. We concede there is too little radio ad demand, but there is also too little rate card integrity and too little investment in radio’s product and people for the long-term."

Here’s what Inside Radio left out that R&R chose to include:

The industry’s larger groups do not appear ready to institute revolutionary changes yet in sales, programming, promotion or station clusters.
Leaving out one sentence may not seem significant, but one of radio’s problems is that our industry’s leaders (including Inside Radio’s owners) refuse to accept the notion that we are in this fix because of radio’s obsession with cutting costs. While Inside Radio touches on "radio’s product and people," the focus of the quote is sales. Focusing on sales issues implies that radio is more a victim. Boyle’s criticism is far broader suggesting that the real problem is lack of leadership.
This is not the first time Boyle has criticized radio’s leadership. In 2004 he wrote:
The giant radio platforms, whose execs are spread too thin and are more distant from the local setting, have been under-performers by several operational metrics.
Four years and many budget cut-backs later radio is no better off. Revenues continue to drift southwards with no end in sight. Boyle was right in 2004 and his new assessment is accurate. When radio came under attack by alternative media including satellite and internet radio we failed to respond. Rather than invest and innovate, radio responded by turning program directors into product custodians, cutting programming and marketing budgets, and adding commercial inventory.
Years of cut-backs has proved that radio cannot solve its problems by cutting expenses. Radio will not turn around until it begins to invest to prove to listeners and media buyers that we believe in the product. When will Boyle's "giant radio platform" leaders finally get the message?

Nell'attesa di avere una risposta a quest'ultima domanda, leggetevi, per ultima, la notizia di AdWeek. E asciugatevi le lacrime, un minimo di dignità perbacco. La radio ha bisogno di idee nuove, dell'impegno anche finanziario degli editori. E' un mezzo che deve trovare nuove modalità di interazione e integrazione con gli altri mezzi, deve mettersi a esplorare modelli di business innovativi e rinfrescare quelli vecchi. E non sono sicuro che questa esigenza possa esaurirsi con l'adozione di una modulazione digitale al posto di quelle analogiche. C'è soprattutto bisogno di qualità, qualità e ancora qualità, perché anche un pubblico imbolsito da secoli di pessima televisione commerciale riesce a discriminare tra un contenuto ben fatto e una radiofonia messa insieme alla rinfusa, badando solo che un'ora di trasmissione costi il meno possibile, come tutto il resto peraltro. O vogliamo che la radio in cui lavoravano i Gadda e gli Eco faccia la sconcertante fine del nostro giornalismo cartaceo?

Radio Dips 7% in First Half of '08

Even factoring in a growth in off-air ads, radio advertising continues to struggle

Aug 22, 2008

By Katy Bachman, Mediaweek

Radio continues to be hit by a soft national ad market.

NEW YORK No matter how you spin it, radio's revenue story is bleak.
Combined local and national spot radio advertising dropped 8 percent in Q2 to $4.6 billion for a 7 percent drop in the first half of the year to $8.4 billion, according to figures released by the Radio Advertising Bureau.
Even factoring in a robust 12 percent growth in off-air advertising to $890 million and a healthy 3 percent climb for network radio to nearly $570 million, radio advertising is still down 5 percent to $9.9 billion at mid-year.
Radio continues to be hit by a soft national ad market with spot sales dropping 11 percent in Q2. For the first half of the year, national spot sales are down 11 percent to $1.4 billion.
Local advertising was only slightly better, down 7 percent in Q2 to $3.8 billion, and down 6 percent to nearly $7 billion for the first half of the year.
While off-air advertising can't make up the difference, it does represent additional revenue in a time of need. According to the RAB, radio off-air revenue is "exceeding expectations" by increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 12.3 percent over the past two years. The RAB has forecast off-air revenue, made up primarily of online activity, to pass $2 billion in 2009.
What radio can do to turn around its fortunes is a popular topic among Wall Street and other observers. In a report released earlier this week, Jim Boyle, an analyst with CL King & Associates accused radio of doing little to reverse the negative trends.
"The industry's larger groups do not appear ready to institute revolutionary changes yet in sales, programming, promotion or station clusters. There is a notable sense of denial of how harsh the prospects have been and continue to be for radio. The classic CEO reply is radio is not bleeding as badly as newspapers," Boyle wrote.
The RAB's figures are based on pool of more than 100 markets as reported by the accounting firm of Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co.

Spesa pubblicitaria italiana, Internet batte radio

Storico sorpasso anche in Italia: nel 2008 gli investimenti pubblicitari su Internet superano quelli radiofonici, i quali non diminuiscono, anzi. UPA prevede 675 milioni di pubblicità su Web e 623 per la radio (contro i 598 milioni del passato anno. Ecco la notizia apparsa ora su Repubblica.it

Pubblicità, per la prima volta Internet sorpassa la radio

MILANO - Nel 2008 gli investimenti pubblicitari su Internet supereranno per la prima volta in Italia la raccolta del settore radiofonico. Grazie ad un incremento del 29,8% sul 2007, infatti, il web assorbirà 675 milioni di euro contro i 520 milioni dell'anno precedente. Contemporaneamente la radio passerà da 598 a 623 milioni ( 4,2%) confermando così il suo buono stato di salute.
Un sorpasso storico, dunque, certificato nella relazione di Lorenzo Sassoli dè Bianchi, neo presidente dell'Upa, (Utenti Pubblicità associati), l'associazione che raccoglie le aziende che utilizzano la pubblicità come forma di comunicazione. A fine 2008, infatti, Internet rappresenterà il 6,3% della torta pubblicitaria contro il 5,9% della radio che comunque guadagna lo 0,4% sul 2007.
Lui, Sassoli de'Bianchi, diventato presidente dopo i 23 anni del "regno" di Giulio Malgara, ha spiegato che quest'anno la pubblicità aumenterà del 3,4% raggiungendo i 10,66 miliardi. Certo, rispetto al 2007, quando l'incremento fu del 4,2% si assiste ad un rallentamento. Tuttavia, osserva il presidente dell'Upa, "si tratta di un crescita superiore a quella del Pil. Ed è la prova che le aziende scommettono sul futuro considerando la pubblicità più che mai come uno strumento di sostegno della marca".
In questo quadro vale la pena di segnalare che a parte Internet e la Radio l'unico settore che cresce più della media è la pubblicità esterna ( 4,8%) passando da 818 a 857 milioni di raccolta. Quanto alla televisione, crescendo dell'1,6%, mantiene il suo peso preponderante (e senza confronti a livello internazionale) assorbendo il 48,5% della raccolta pari a 5miliardi 179 milioni di euro. Stazionaria la stampa ( 1,5%) con il 30,7% degli investimenti complessivi pari a 3miliardi 269 milioni. Comunque attenzione: mentre i quotidiani mantengono una certa vivacità ( 2,1%) a 1 miliardo e 770 milioni i periodici sono fermi al palo: un miliardo 449 milioni di investimenti pari ad una crescita percentuale dello 0,9%.

Internet batte la radio come mezzo pubblicitario

Sempre più fosche le previsioni dei ricavi pubblicitari per le radio commerciali. Secondo Associated Press e International Herald Tribune, anche la britannica ZenithOptimedia conferma la tendenza al ribasso. Lo specialista ritiene che il prossimo anno la pubblicità su Internet supererà quella radiofonica su scala mondiale. Banner e affini andranno a sfiorare il 10 percento della spesa (9.4% per l'esattezza) mentre gli annunci pubblicitari radiofonici scivoleranno sotto quota 8%. La spesa pubblicitaria complessiva dovrebbe crescere di sei punti percentuali grazie agli effetti combinati di elezioni presidenziali USA, campionato di calcio e Olimpiadi. Ma per la radio ci sarà meno trippa, a meno - forse - di riuscire a gestire strategie integrate con il mondo online.

Internet ads will overtake global radio spending next year

Monday, December 3, 2007

NEW YORK: The Internet will overtake radio next year in its share of global advertising spending, a leading advertising forecaster predicted Monday.
ZenithOptimedia, a major advertising company based in England, said that the Internet's share of advertising would rise to 9.4 percent in 2008 from 8.1 percent this year, while radio's share of the ad market would slip to 7.9 percent from 8.2 percent.
Steve King, the CEO of ZenithOptimedia, told a media investor conference in New York that the company didn't expect an ad recession next year, despite a softening world economy, partly due to several events that are expected to boost ad spending: the U.S. presidential election, the Beijing Olympics, and the soccer championships in Europe.
All told, ZenithOptimedia now expects global advertising spending to grow 6.7 percent in 2008, an acceleration from the 5.3 percent rate that is expected in 2007.
King said he expected the "quadrennial" effect of the elections, Olympics and soccer championship to add about $6 billion (€4.09 billion) in advertising spending globally next year, accounting for most of the acceleration in ad spending growth.
Without that effect, King said, worldwide ad spending growth would remain roughly flat with this year, expanding at a rate of 5.4 percent.
King said that emerging markets such as central and eastern Europe and Asia excluding Japan had become the largest drivers of global advertising spending, compensating for slower growth in developed markets. King was speaking at an investor conference sponsored by UBS.
Another advertising forecaster, Bob Coen of Universal McCann, said he expected global advertising growth of 4.6 percent next year. However, Coen's forecast doesn't include paid search advertising on the Internet.

USA: lo spot Internet supera il radiofonico

Per la prima volta quest'anno, gli investimenti pubblicitari sul mezzo radiofonico negli Stati Uniti saranno inferiori alla spesa complessiva per la pubblicità su Web. Lo scrive Forbes.com in una breve, lapidaria notizia che traccia un ritratto poco incoraggiante della radio come strumento promozionale. La crescita della spesa in annunci pubblicitari via radio è di appena l'1,5% nel 2007, contro una spinta pari al 22% in più di investimenti per campagne via Web. Grazie a questo aumento il budget pubblicitario complessivo di Internet passa a 21,7 miliardi di dollari, contro i 20,4 della radio. Secondo Arbitron e Edison Media Research solo 17 americani su 100 considerano la radio come il medium più importante. Cinque anni fa erano 26. Tutto questo a fronte di valutazioni che giudicano i due mezzi particolarmente sinergici e complementari. La pubblicità combinata via Internet e in radio ha senso,. Ma evidentemente non piace o non è ancora stata del tutto compresa.

Web Ad Spending To Eclipse Radio In '07
Louis Hau, 08.29.07, 4:13 PM ET

U.S. Internet advertising spending is poised to overtake radio advertising for the first time, providing a reminder that broadcasters need to be more aggressive in their embrace of online opportunities.

U.S. radio ad spending is expected to inch up 1.5% in 2007, to $20.4 billion, short of online ad expenditures of $21.7 billion, which will be up 22% from last year, eMarketer senior analyst Ben Macklin said in a report. Over the next several years, radio station Web sites and online audio advertising "will be the principal drivers for radio advertising growth,'' Macklin said.
But he doesn't think that growth will add up to much. He expects the sluggish radio advertising market to continue experiencing slow growth, climbing to an estimated $22.6 billion in 2011, when online ad spending is expected to surge to $44 billion.
Terrestrial radio companies like Clear Channel Communications, CBS and Cox Radio still retain massive audiences, but consumers are spending less time listening to radio than they do surfing the Web or watching TV.
In addition, only 17% of U.S. consumers consider radio the "most" essential medium, down from 26% five years ago, according to a study released earlier this year by Arbitron and Edison Media Research.
For many advertisers, the choice between radio and non-radio online ads won't be an either-or proposition, Macklin said, pointing to studies showing that consumers often listen to the radio while consuming other media and that a mix of terrestrial radio and online ads can be far more effective than online ads alone.
"There are many synergies between radio and the Internet and, for the most part, they complement rather than compete with each other,'' he said. "Advertisers should not abandon radio in favor of the Web but combine the two media to take advantage of the unique attributes of each."
Those might sound like encouraging words for the radio industry. But as Macklin's estimates show, these new opportunities don't appear likely to kick-start the radio industry out of its doldrums.