A new “Radio Industry Refresher” report put out by Wells Fargo senior analyst Marci Ryvicker takes a sharp look at 2016 revenue totals and sources. Written in response to investor queries about the Entercom-CBS Radio merger, Ryvicker ranks the top dozen publicly traded radio companies for revenue in 2016 as follows: iHeartMedia ($3.40 billion), CBS Radio ($1.22 billion), Cumulus Media ($1.14 billion), Scripps ($943 million), Townsquare Media ($516.9 million), Entercom ($460.2 million), Urban One ($456.2 million), Salem ($274.3 million), Entravision ($258.5 million), Beasley ($249.8 million, including the Greater Media stations), Saga ($142.6 million), and Emmis ($133.8 million).
The 33-page report also ranks the top advertising categories for radio. Media and entertainment was the top spender (18% of the 2016 total spent by all categories), nudging out auto (15%), which traditionally tops the list. The rest of the field was: consumer/retail and services tied for third place, each with 13% of the revenue pie; financial services and food & beverage tied for fifth with 9% each; health care/pharma (7%), telephone/utilities (5%); travel & leisure (3%); political/organization (which missed expectations) with 3%; gas/oil (2%); and “Other” (3%).
