Radio’s national advertising hit a hiccup this past week as spot play numbers among the top five advertisers plunged to their lowest in Q4. With Black Friday providing a huge retail draw, it’s causing some to reassess the ad landscape headed into the year’s end.
For the week of November 6-12, the combined spot play count for the five clients totaled 191,018, down from the previous week’s 211,969. Vicks maintained its dominance as radio’s number one advertiser, according to Media Monitors, with 48,146 spot plays. Fast-food giant Wendy’s catapulted from eighteenth into second place with 40,178 spot plays. E-commerce behemoth Amazon took a distant third place with 34,374 spot plays ahead of its massive Black Friday sale.
Lowe’s missed third by a whisker, with 34,370 spot plays. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless rounds out the top five with 33,950 spot plays. The average spot play per advertiser now stands at 38,203.6, down from 42,393.8.
With most holiday advertising budgets to be wiped out by the end of November, many stations’ profits are hinging on a big week leading up to Thanksgiving and the holiday retail season.
