Insider Monkey

14 Biggest Radio Companies in the US

Fahad Saleem
12 min read

In This Article:

In this article, we will take a look at the 14 biggest radio companies in the US. To see more such companies, go directly to 5 Biggest Radio Companies in the US.

Back in 2019, when Duncan Stewart, Director of Research, TMT, at Deloitte predicted that radio audience from the age group 18-34 would surpass that of TV by 2025, media analysts were calling it a strangely contrarian opinion. Why would the younger audience leave TV (video format) and instead flock to audio. That radio was becoming a relic of the past and people are preferring to watch videos instead of just listening to content was (and still) the mainstream mantra. Come the third quarter of 2022, and Stewart's prediction came true, more than two years earlier than his expectations. According to Nielsen Total Audience report, AM/FM radio surpassed linear TV in 2022 in terms of time spent among people aged 18-49 in the U.S. for the first time since such data has been collected in the Nielsen Total Audience Report.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 83% Americans aged 12 and older listened to terrestrial radio in a given week in 2020. This was down from 89% in 2019. The radio industry is seeing a major change on the back of digital growth. Data from the Radio Advertising Bureau and Borrell Associates says that radio’s online revenue was expected to reach $2.1 billion by the end of 2023, compared to $1 billion in 2019. Radio’s digital sales in 2022 came in at $1.8 billion, which was a 21% YoY increase.

Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, believes the 80% digital revenue growth over in just three years is “remarkable.”

“I think it marks the start of a new era where radio remains a solid core, but digital products become the industry’s most important growth engine.”

The Radio Ads Market: Ecosystem of Monetization

At a time when the competition for ads dollars is growing and ad revenues are plummeting, radio presents a unique opportunity for the media industry. Over the past few years there has been a lot of hype around podcasting. Small and large businesses, media personalities and companies invested heavily in podcasting. But Duncan Stewart of Deloitte believes podcasting failed to impress when it comes to monetization. In a latest interview with Radio Ink, Stewart said that while podcasting reach has increased since 2018/2019, the hours spent on podcast listening seem to have plateaued. Importantly, Stewart said that when he made the famous prediction about radio surpassing TV back in 2019, he was “worried” about podcasts overtaking traditional radio in the future. But that has not happened. One of the key reasons behind this is that, according to Stewart, radio is still enjoying the established ecosystem of monetization. Here’s what the executive said during his interview:

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