The commercial radio industry took £129m in the fourth quarter of 2008 which means total revenues for October to December in 2009 are estimated to be around £139m. The growth follows a 12% drop in third quarter revenues.
According to unofficial revenue figures from senior industry sources the UK commercial radio industry was up 3% year on year in October, up 11% year on year in November and up 10% year on year in December.
The first quarter of 2010 is also expected to be strong and the industry predicts revenues to be up 14% year on year in January and 11% year on year in February.
Simon Redican, managing director of the RAB, said the increase in radio revenue can be attributed to commercial radio groups' investment in marketing, talent and research.
Redican said: "The radio groups are now well established and have invested in marketing their stations. In the last year you have seen radio brands advertising in outdoor and on TV.
"Stations are building listeners because there are more ways to listen to the radio than ever before and radio is more accountable as the RAB is now running its RadioGauge research every week."
Commercial radio revenue during 2009, when the unofficial figures for quarter four are included, is expected to be around £507m, down 9.5% from £560.2m in 2008.
The figures suggest radio is outperforming the ad market. In December WPP's media agency umbrella arm Group M issued revised forecasts for UK adspend during 2009 which suggested the UK ad market is expected to fall by 12% in 2009, an improvement on the 14% drop it predicted mid 2009.
Redican said: "2009 was a bad year but the commercial radio industry finished it with revenue growth in the last couple of months and picked up share overall. The radio industry is looking at five consecutive months of revenue growth to February this year and we are cautiously optimistic."
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