To succeed in a digital world, radio broadcasters need to maintain relevance in an increasingly crowded audio market.

Radio listeners and revenue are moderately concentrated among five broadcasters who hold 84% of the listener share, with limited historical growth and stable outlook. The big 5 broadcasters account for 73% of market revenue.

We expect ad spend to remain flat, from A$1.12bn in 2016 to A$1.10bn in 2021 (-0.4% CAGR), driven by increased competition from other audio formats.

Radio easily dominates the audio landscape, with 54% share of average daily audio consumption in Australia, but there are challenges. Adjacent streaming media are a small but growing threat to Radio’s dominance.Looking further ahead, the arrival of driverless cars may force major change to Radio.

However, the future is bright for Radio broadcasters who take the opportunity to diversify their content offerings.