Radio Advertising Rates Drop by 20-30%

Nov. 17, 2009 - PRLog -- Sports radio ratings aren’t as high as many people thought.

For big games, ratings shoot way up. But there are only a handfull of big games in any season. For other games, ratings drop way down.

As a result, the radio advertising rates that stations used to get for their live sports coverage have gone down significantly, by about 20% to 30%. Industry sources reveal that some stations radio advertising rates have dropped even more than that.

Some people think that the more accurate the ratings data is, the better it will be for everybody, even if it means stations having to reduce their radio advertising rates.

One such person is Bob Snyder, founder of Beason Broadcast Partners, which consults with sports radio stations and sports franchises on ad sales. He thinks that the more reliable ratings data serves to build credibility with New Jersey marketing companies, advertisers, and retail advertising agencies, making sports play-by-play broadcasts that much more attractive for advertising.

However, others think that the numbers don’t tell the whole story when it comes to play-by-play sports.

Tim McCarthy, senior vice president of radio at ESPN, says that overworked media buyers, who face tons of pressure from clients to get the best deal, only look at the numbers and without taking into account the unique, passionate audience that radio broadcasts deliver.

“What’s the value of a Yankees/Red Sox game or a Bears/Packers game? These are rivalries that have packed arenas for years. They have value. To say no one cares is not true.”

The problem is that radio stations are seeing less radio advertising revenue from broadcasting rights they agreed to pay big dollars for before the more accurate ratings data was released.

Those deals, since they are no longer profitable for the radio station, create a problem for the station's bottom line. However they are still valuable because they set in place a station's position in the market.

Now is the time to invest in radio advertising since the rates have become incredibly low. You can get more air time and reach more people with the same amount of investment, thereby drastically increasing your ROI.

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