The Southern California Broadcasters Association has published its Quarterly Market Guidance Report for the third quarter of 2017. The organization says Southern California’s estimated gross domestic product will exceed $1.5 trillion in 2017, making it the 16th largest economy in the world with Los Angeles County alone ranking 21st with a gross domestic product of $644 billion. The state of California is now the 6th largest economy in the world, ahead of France, and is expected to finish 2017 with a GDP of $2.7 Trillion.
In addition to the economic and population growth traffic congestion is mind-boggling. But, for radio, that’s always good news, especially in Los Angeles where 71% of L.A. metro listenership is being done away from the home. The SCBA report says motorists in Los Angeles and Orange counties experience 80 hours of delays annually, almost double the national average of 42 hours. With the country’s largest traffic congestion, heavy traffic and its inherent Radio listenership trends are on the increase in Southern California once again.
The new SCBA report also has extensive details on several of radio’s biggest ad categories, including automotive, which is forecast to be down in the low-single digits, financial services (projected to be up 3.1% in Q3), Home Furnishings (up 7%), Home Improvement (up 5.5%) and Cellular (up 3%). The SCBA says the Southern California region can only be viewed as the largest and most lucrative advertising market for Radio advertisers looking to grow revenue, build their brands, and drive market share.
Read the entire report HERE
