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Vodafone is the biggest spending advertiser on commercial radio, according to latest figures from the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).

The mobile phone company spent more than pounds 5.5 million on radio between October and December, followed closely by COI Communications, which spent pounds 5.1 million on the medium.

Both clients increased their spend sharply compared with the previous April-to-June quarter, when the COI spent over pounds 2 million and Vodafone spent just over pounds 1 million.

OMD, Vodafone's media agency, said a large proportion of its client's radio activity in the last quarter was regionally focused: 'Vodafone spent vast amounts advertising the network side of the business. It used every available local radio station to run national campaigns,' said one OMD radio buyer.

Key Vodafone network campaigns at the end of last year included those for the Swipecard and Roadwatch promotional offers.

Other top ten advertisers that used commercial radio for the last quarter of 2000 included Carphone Warehouse and BT, which spent over pounds 2 million on radio advertising. One2One, Orange, British Gas and BT Cellnet all spent more than pounds 1 million on the medium.

BT, the top-spending radio advertiser for the previous April-to-June quarter, decreased its spend marginally this quarter, while Orange doubled its radio spend year on year.

New clients to the top ten commercial advertisers list include United Distillers & Vinters. It increased its radio spend to advertise its Archers and Gordon's Gin brands.

The retail sector was the highest-spending category across the October-to-December quarter. However, the RAB survey indicted that financial and Government institutions were the second fastest growing sectors.

Meanwhile, across the whole of 2000, commercial radio established itself as a multimillion pound medium. Its total revenues were up 15.4 per cent year on year, reaching a total of pounds 536 million, compared with the 1999 figure of 464 million.

For the October-to-December quarter, total ad revenue reached a record high of 145 million. This was fuelled by a 17 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue from national advertisers. Spend from national advertisers was up 25.7 per cent in 2000.