14 Biggest Radio Companies in the US

Published on June 3, 2023 at 10:28 am by Fahad Saleem in Business, Lists, News

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:

“At the end of the day, if I am an audio person and I want to make money at what I do, monetization via radio is established and well-known. I can place an ad beside someone’s voice and make money at that. That is generally not true of podcasting. The monetization problem around podcasting is they’ve got audiences and demographics, but they are having a very hard time translating that into money.

So one of the attractions of radio is, instead of it being ‘podcasting is the new radio’, its like radio is just like podcasting – except you can make money at it. That’s a pretty compelling proposition for a lot of people.”

Radio also offers a chance to reach millions of people in a more cost-effective way when compared to TV and even the internet. Data from Solomon Partners shows the media CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for radio is about $6.75 for a 30-second spot. Compare this to the CPM of $20 for TV (goes up to $36 for primetime TV), $46 for newspapers, $23 for podcasting, $30 for OTT video ads and one starts to understand why companies are turning to radio for advertising.

Companies Coming Back to Radio?

According to a report, P&G, which pulled back from radio spending long ago amid the broader shift to TV and internet, is coming back to radio. The company reportedly increased its radio spend by 43% in 2022 to $235 million.

Radio’s Arch-nemesis: Streaming

But the state of the traditional radio industry is not rosy. The biggest threat to the industry comes from streaming services, which are also crushing traditional TV. A CBS poll in 2021 showed that more than half of adults under 44 in the US use a streaming service to listen to music. The poll also showed that streaming services remain a top choice for Americans aged between 45 to 55. Unsurprisingly, radio was the preference of Americans older than 55.

The CBS poll showed that just 31% of Americans use traditional radio to listen to music. Most importantly, this change occurred in about 3-4 years, since CBS research showed that most Americans were using radio for their music as recently as 2017.

According to Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” 2020 report terrestrial radio accounted for about 39% of audio consumption among those 13 and older. This metric for streaming services at that time was just 18%. But as showed by the CBS poll, streaming services ate away the radio’s market share pretty quickly. Another report from Edison shows that AM/FM Streaming medium is quickly gaining traction when compared to AM/FM Over The Air. Listeners between the age of 25-54 are the most likely to consume AM/FM radio via a station stream. 13% of AM/FM listening by people aged 13-24 is via streams, while this share for those aged between 25 and 34 is 17%. For people older than 55, this share is just 7%.

The shift from traditional radio to streaming is ubiquitous. According to London-based Enders Analysis, since 2010, around 840,000 peopled aged between 15 to 24 left radio. BBC Radio, one of the most famous radio services in the UK, said in 2018 that it’s experiencing a shift of younger audience to streaming services such as Spotify, Apple and Amazon Music, and YouTube .

Based on these trends, major radio companies are continuing to invest in streaming and podcasting. Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI)’s management highlighted during their latest earnings call that:

“We had a really solid quarter with ad revenue down just 2%. And I believe that because we were really well positioned to capture late in quarter demand that came in as advertisers started to open up their budgets, because we have these programmatic solutions across music streaming and podcasting. And podcasting continues to be a bright spot. Podcasting ad revenue was up 34% year-over-year in the quarter. And that’s due to the great content relationships we have on the representation side. Our ability to bring brands into podcasting, it’s traditionally been much more D2C and D2C has been soft in the first quarter.”

Bob Pittman, CEO of one of the biggest radio companies in the US, iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT), said during a latest earnings call:

“… Podcasting now reaches more consumers every month than the biggest streaming music service. And third, there are now more weekly podcast listeners in the U.S. than Netflix subscribers. In the investor deck, we’ve included some new slides that show the growth in daily reach and time spent among podcast users since 2015. Additionally, you’ll see a slide that shows where podcasting is drawing its listening from spoiler alert of those surveyed, 70% said they replaced time spent with social media platforms, 50% said they replaced time spent with YouTube, and 46% said they replaced time spent with streaming music services. And most important, not much podcast listening was drawn from broadcast radio listening, illustrating the truly complementary nature of broadcast radio and podcasting.”

Artificial Intelligence Arrives to Disrupt the Industry

To make matters more difficult for the traditional radio industry, the AI revolution is ushering in new changes where giants like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s YouTube and Spotify Technology S.A.(NYSE:SPOT), which were already hammering AM/FM market, are beginning to launch AI-based features that will give a radio-like listening experience to users.

Spotify recently launched AI DJ that will give customized listening experience to users.

Earlier this year, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s YouTube Music launched a new radio experience that lets users create their own custom stations. Users can create radio stations with different themes with specific artists and song selection.

With this industry outlook in mind, let’s take a look at some of the biggest radio companies in the US.

Our Methodology

For this article, we scoured several radio industry reports, used company screeners, and carried out manual research to list down some of the biggest payers in the US radio industry. Millions of Americans tune in daily to listen to programs produced or delivered by these companies via their radio stations. Our key criteria for selection was the market cap (for public companies), though we also gave importance to total number of radio stations, number of listeners and reach. There are several private companies in our article too. The list is ranked based on market cap, while for private companies we used the annual revenue metric and estimated their valuation using suitable revenue multiples. Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI), iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) and Townsquare Media Inc. (NYSE:TSQ) are some of the notable names in the list.

Biggest Radio Companies in the US

14. Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. (OTCMKTS:SBSAA)

Market Capitalization: $4.5 million

Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. operates several radio stations in the US primarily targeting the Spanish-speaking community. Some famous stations of Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. include WSKQ-FM, California-based KLAX-FM, Florida-based WRMA, LA-based KXOL-FM, among others.

13. Audacy, Inc. (AUD)

Market Capitalization: $8.1 million

Pennsylvania-based Audacy, Inc. (AUD) is one of the biggest radio companies in the US with hundreds of radio stations. Some famous stations of Audacy, Inc. (AUD) include 93XRT, WFAN Sports Radio 101.9 FM/66AM New York, WCBS Newsradio 880, 94.7 The WAVE, Seattle’s Rock Station and more.

12. Salem Media Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SALM)

Market Capitalization: $28.9 million

Texas-based Salem Media Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SALM) is a radio company with conservative values. Some of the popular stations owned and operated by Salem Media Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SALM) include WNTP, 870 AM KRLA The Answer, 93.9 FM KPDQ Portland, among others. Salem Media Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SALM) on May 9 posted Q1 results. GAAP EPS in the quarter came in at -$0.19, missing estimates by $0.06. Revenue in the quarter increased by 1.4% year over year to $63.5 million, beating estimates by $1.38 million.

11. Beasley Broadcast Group Inc. (NASDAQ:BBGI)

Market Capitalization: $31.04 million

Florida-based company Beasley Broadcast Group Inc. (NASDAQ:BBGI) owns over 60 radio stations in America. Recently, Beasley Broadcast Group Inc. (NASDAQ:BBGI) posted its first-quarter results. GAAP EPS in the quarter came in at -$0.12, beating estimates by $0.04. Revenue increased by 3.6% year over year to $57.7 million, beating estimates by $0.95 million.

10. Cumulus Media Inc. (NASDAQ:CMLS)

Market Capitalization: $65.04 million

Atlanta, Georgia-based Cumulus Media Inc. (NASDAQ:CMLS) is one of the biggest operators of AM and FM radio stations in the US, with hundreds of stations and media markets under ownership. Some of the notable stations owned by Cumulus Media Inc. (NASDAQ:CMLS) include WLTO, KMJK, KQRS-FM, KCMO-FM, among many others.

9. ESPN (Private)

Estimated Market Capitalization: $123 million [Annual Revenue: $82M]

ESPN, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and Hearst Communications through the joint venture ESPN Inc., operates a number of sports radio stations in the US. These stations include ESPN New York, WMVP, LA-based KSPN, WSLB, among others.

8. Saga Communications, Inc. (NYSE:SGA)

Market Capitalization: $129.5 million

Michigan-based Saga Communications, Inc. (NYSE:SGA) ranks 8th in our list of the biggest radio companies in the US. Saga Communications, Inc. (NYSE:SGA) operates various famous stations including classic rock radio station WAQY, Ohio-based WSNY, WLVQ, WCVQ among more.

Saga Communications, Inc. (NYSE:SGA) is also a dividend payer, with an over 4% dividend yield as of May 10.

7. Townsquare Media Inc. (NYSE:TSQ)

Market Capitalization: $183 million

Townsquare Media Inc. (NYSE:TSQ) ranks 7th in our list of the biggest radio companies in the US with hundreds of stations. Some famous radio channel brands of Townsquare Media Inc. (NYSE:TSQ) include WYRK, KLAQ, K2 and NJ101.5.

Townsquare Media Inc. (NYSE:TSQ) has radio operations in New Jersey, New Hampshire, Montana, Indiana, Illinois, Idaho, New York, Washington, Alabama, among other states and cities.

6. Urban One, Inc. (NASDAQ:UONEK)

Market Capitalization: $291.5 million

Maryland-based Urban One, Inc. (NASDAQ:UONEK) mostly targets the urban population and African Americans. Urban One, Inc. (NASDAQ:UONEK)’s famous radio stations are WOL, WERQ-FM, WHAT, WPZE, among others.

In April, Urban One, Inc. (NASDAQ:UONEK) announced to buy Cox Media Group’s Houston radio cluster. Urban One, Inc. (NASDAQ:UONEK) will buy 93Q Country KKBQ-FM, classic rock station The Eagle 106.9 & 107.5 KHPT-FM and KGLK-FM, and Country Legends 97.1 KTHT-FM.

Like Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI), iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) and Townsquare Media Inc. (NYSE:TSQ), Urban One, Inc. (NASDAQ:UONEK) is a notable radio company that is facing challenges from streaming services.

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