Credit: Pawel Czerwinski via Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@pawel_czerwinski
The advertising market is getting shorter from an Australian audio perspective, according to ARN CEO Ciaran Davis.
“It's getting shorter,” he told AdNews.
“We have a promotion on one of our stations that started last week and that only got sponsored today.
“In terms of turning things around really quickly, you've got to be very adept at doing that.
“I'm certainly getting the feeling that there is a desire to spend, if a little bit of slowing down in terms of signing on the final dollar.
“Overall, I think audio, broadcast but also digital, is positioned well for growth.”
ARN Media reported a 9% increase to $365.6 million in group revenue for the year to December. Digital audio grew 28%.
The result was driven by a solid revenue performance at Australian Radio Network at $307.9 million, and a revitalised Hong Kong business launching two new contracts during the year.
The company forecasts stronger audience ratings and renewed commercial strategy to see total revenue build during the year with low single digit growth for the full year.
ARN also has a three year Transformation Program to deliver $40 million in cost cutting.
Davis said ARN is taking a prudent approach.
“We're rolling out very good digital audio products which has gone well. And with that, I expect the digital audio rate of growth to accelerate for us.
“We have a number of initiatives, particularly around the Gold network, to make it slightly younger, which I think will help us drive more revenue later in the year.
“Overall, I'm very focused and very pleased that the strategies we're taking on as a business is about growing audiences, growing our monetisation capabilities to drive revenue.”
Digital audio growth is strong but isn’t taking over broadcast.
“If you think about what broadcast radio does, it provides great reach and provides advertisers an opportunity to reach at scale, drive call to action, retail, driven messages, a little bit of brand building,” Davis said.
“Podcasting is a bit more intimate and allows for more select and probably more brand building focus.
“But also, as we build up our data, the ability to target much better is something that advertisers want to see as well.
“And we're very pleased that we've rolled out a number of products that actually allow us to use the sophistication of our tech capability and to drive really good targeting capability.”
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