SalesFuel’s 12th annual State of Media Sales showed renewed optimism for 2023 among industry sales leaders, but still has worries about radio’s lagging ad spend compared to digital. SalesFuel Founder and CEO C. Lee Smith, BIA Advisory Services VP of Forecasting and Analysis Nicole Ovadia, and AdMail Director of Sales Denise Gibson shared the results on Tuesday.
The report started with positive news – more than 60% of Sales Managers for all types of media projected revenue growth of any amount for 2023. Expected losses come from major retail chains and agency buys, while 36% forecasted local buys increasing significantly.
The top advertiser category overall for 2023 is likely to be home improvement, but growth for radio was favored much lower than TV or print. Automotive revenue is expected to boom as dealer supply returns, even in the face of less spending from automakers themselves.
BIA predicts radio’s biggest categories for ad spend growth increases by percentage will be education (+3.1%), retail (+2.2%), and health (+.7%). Digital is looking at massive growth percentage-wise in these same categories (+17%, +16.8%, +14.6% respectively). Retail ad spend this year looks to be particularly driven by luxury goods.
Sales leaders find the biggest challenge to their staff and workforce is hiring high-quality salespeople. Industry-wise, radio Sales Managers are also struggling with creating and maintaining a culture that’s attractive to new employees.
