Contents
- Radio advertising revenue statistics: Canadian commercial radio revenue by year and sector
- Radio advertising revenue statistics: Canadian local and national time sales
- Radio advertising revenue statistics: U.S. broadcast radio revenue at iHeartMedia
- Radio advertising revenue statistics: radio digital sales and station benchmarks
- Radio advertising revenue statistics: New Zealand radio advertising turnover
- Sources
Radio advertising revenue statistics: Canadian commercial radio revenue by year and sector
Canadian commercial traditional radio revenue can be read across several CRTC annual highlights editions. The values below are in millions of Canadian dollars. Because successive editions report different values for overlapping years, each vintage is identified rather than combined as if it were one continuous series.
| Broadcast year and published vintage | Total revenue ($M) | English-language ($M) | French-language ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022, 2022–2023 highlights | — | 860.6 | 202.7 |
| 2023, 2022–2023 highlights | 1,103.8 | 860.4 | 197.9 |
| 2023, 2023–2024 highlights | 1,103.6 | — | 197.9 |
| 2024, 2023–2024 highlights | 1,093.6 | 849.4 | — |
| 2024, 2024–2025 highlights | 1,094.8 | 850.5 | 199.0 |
| 2025, 2024–2025 highlights | 1,066.5 | 829.3 | 193.4 |
The latest CRTC edition in this set reports total commercial traditional radio revenue of $1,066.5 million for the 2025 broadcast year, down 2.6% from the $1,094.8 million it lists for 2024. Its language rows show English-language revenue at $829.3 million, down 2.5%, and French-language revenue at $193.4 million, down 2.8%. Third-language revenue was $43.8 million, down 3.1%; the 2024 value in that same table is $45.2 million. CRTC, Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2024–2025
The earlier 2023–2024 highlights table gives a separate vintage for 2024: total revenue of $1,093.6 million and English-language revenue of $849.4 million. It lists the 2023 total as $1,103.6 million and French-language revenue as $197.9 million. Those printed figures make clear why a year should be paired with its report edition: the later table gives a different 2024 total and English-language figure. The sources do not explain the revisions, so the values are best read as edition-specific reported figures. CRTC, Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2023–2024
The 2022–2023 edition reports English-language commercial radio revenue of $860.6 million in 2022 and $860.4 million in 2023, a 0.02% decline. French-language revenue was $202.7 million in 2022 and $197.9 million in 2023, down 2.36%. In that edition, total revenue was $1,103.8 million in 2023, down 0.55% from $1,109.9 million in 2022; ethnic revenue was $45.5 million in 2023, down 2.51%. This is an earlier 2023 vintage than the $1,103.6 million total in the next report. CRTC, Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2022–2023
Taken together, these figures show the reported totals and selected language categories across three editions, but do not establish a single unrevised time series. “Commercial traditional radio” is the CRTC table’s category; the figures should not be read as all Canadian audio advertising or as digital-only revenue. The CRTC editions provide both reported revenue levels and selected year-over-year changes, allowing each comparison to remain tied to the exact edition and broadcast year.
Radio advertising revenue statistics: Canadian local and national time sales
The CRTC tables separate local time sales from national time sales. The series below retains each table’s reported vintage and uses millions of Canadian dollars.
| Broadcast year and CRTC edition | Local time sales ($M) | National time sales ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022, 2022–2023 highlights | 714.1 | 353.7 |
| 2023, 2022–2023 highlights | 736.5 | 325.6 |
| 2024, 2024–2025 highlights | 730.9 | 319.7 |
| 2025, 2024–2025 highlights | 712.4 | 302.6 |
In the 2022–2023 edition, local time sales were $714.1 million in 2022 and $736.5 million in 2023, an increase of 3.14%. National time sales moved from $353.7 million to $325.6 million, a decline of 7.95%. These are changes reported for the respective rows in that edition’s commercial radio revenue table. CRTC, Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2022–2023
The 2024–2025 edition reports local time sales of $730.9 million in 2024 and $712.4 million in 2025, with the 2025 figure down 2.5%. National time sales were $319.7 million in 2024 and $302.6 million in 2025, down 5.3%. Both categories declined in the displayed comparison, while the reported percentage decrease was larger for national time sales. CRTC, Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2024–2025
The table does not fill in a 2024 value from an earlier edition or a 2023 value from a later edition: the checked facts provide those time-sales amounts only in the listed editions. Local and national time sales are revenue categories in the CRTC reporting, not counts of advertisements, stations or listening hours. The figures are in millions, and their broadcast-year labels should be retained when comparing them with calendar-year company filings or other countries’ turnover reports.
Radio advertising revenue statistics: U.S. broadcast radio revenue at iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia’s 2025 Form 10-K reports domestic broadcast radio station revenue of $1,633.4 million in 2025, $1,726.9 million in 2024 and $1,752.2 million in 2023. Its table is stated in thousands and identifies the periods as years ended December 31; the prose values here follow the filing’s million-dollar presentation. iHeartMedia, Inc. 2025 Form 10-K
For the 2025 comparison, the filing reports a 5.4% decrease in broadcast radio revenue from 2024. The 2024 and 2023 amounts are useful context for that company’s reported series, but they represent iHeartMedia’s domestic broadcast radio stations, not the entire U.S. radio industry. The company measure also has a calendar-year period, unlike the CRTC broadcast-year statistics above. It should therefore be treated as a company benchmark rather than directly merged into the national or Canadian totals.
Radio advertising revenue statistics: radio digital sales and station benchmarks
RAB’s February 2026 release, citing Borrell Associates’ 14th Annual Digital Benchmarking Report, says U.S. radio digital advertising revenue reached $2.3 billion in 2025. The release reports average digital revenue of $511,873 per station and $2,263,431 per market cluster. It also says digital sales accounted for 24.4% of total radio revenue nationwide. Those are three distinct views of the 2025 figures: industrywide revenue, average station revenue and average cluster revenue. RAB, “Radio’s Digital Revenue Hit $2.3 Billion in 2025”
The same release states that radio digital revenue grew at a compound annual rate of 8.3% from 2022 through 2025, while core radio advertising declined at a compound annual rate of 2.2% over the period described. These rates distinguish digital revenue from core radio advertising; they do not give a total-revenue growth rate. Borrell’s release forecasts digital revenue of $2.5 billion for 2026 and a 9.5% growth rate for that forecast year. These are forecasts published in February 2026, not realized results. RAB, “Radio’s Digital Revenue Hit $2.3 Billion in 2025”
Borrell’s 2025 benchmarking report presents 2024 observations. It reports industrywide digital sales of $2.1 billion, up 10.2%; the average station generated $482,470 in digital sales, and the average market cluster generated $2,119,585 in digital revenue. The report gives digital’s share of radio industry advertising revenue as 23.7% for 2024. Borrell Associates, 13th Annual Benchmarking Report
A separate indicator in that report covers publicly held groups through the third quarter of 2024: 6 of 7 reported digital growth, with rates ranging from 2.4% to 20.3%. This is a subset and period-specific comparison, not an all-station result. The 2024 industry and average-station values above can be compared with the 2025 RAB release’s corresponding benchmarks, while keeping in mind that they come from different annual report editions. The share measures are reported percentages, not independently calculated from the rounded dollar totals. Borrell Associates, 13th Annual Benchmarking Report
Radio advertising revenue statistics: New Zealand radio advertising turnover
New Zealand’s 2024 advertising turnover report lists radio advertising spend of NZ$255 million, radio digital advertising spend of NZ$17 million, and total radio turnover of NZ$272 million. The table reports radio at 7.1% of total industry turnover, radio digital at 0.5%, and total radio at 7.6%. The amounts are in New Zealand dollars and the period is 2024. Advertising Standards Authority New Zealand, New Zealand Advertising Industry Revenue Report 2024
The report’s rows distinguish radio, radio digital and total radio. Its note says radio digital revenue is also recorded in Digital Other and counted once in total revenue. Accordingly, the $17 million digital row is a category detail, while NZ$272 million is the report’s total-radio amount; adding the digital figure again to total radio would double count it. These turnover categories provide a country-level endpoint to the comparisons, but they are not directly interchangeable with Canadian CRTC commercial traditional radio revenue or the U.S. company and benchmarking measures above.
Sources
- Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2024-2025
- Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2023-2024
- Annual highlights of the broadcasting sector 2022-2023
- iHeartMedia, Inc. 2025 Form 10-K
- Radio’s Digital Revenue Hit $2.3 Billion in 2025, Becoming Primary Growth Engine
- February 2025: 13th Annual Benchmarking Report
- New Zealand Advertising Industry Revenue Report 2024
- Ad Revenues and Forecasts