Ratings Trends: Slowdown In Niche Radio Growth

A report published today (Feb. 15) by Banc of America Securities analysts says that Spanish radio groups and "niche operators" like Radio One or Salem are taking shares away from the general market but at a relatively slow pace.

In the case of Spanish radio's listener growth, analyst Jonathan Jacoby wrote that the entry of Clear Channel and CBS Radio into Hispanic radio could have an effect on shares currently garnered by Univision or Entravision. "We note that competition from general market operators continues to increase (e.g., CCU, CBS Radio), and also believe there is perhaps some slowdown to increased Hispanic radio listenership."

Spanish Broadcast System (SBS) had the best year-over-year gain in AQH shares for adults 25-54, per the BofA study, which looked at results for 10 public groups. Most of SBS's gain was attributed to one station, regional Mexican KRZZ San Francisco, which was acquired and reformatted in late 2004. Excluding KRZZ, BofA says SBS's ratings share improved "only 1%" year over year.

Salem's Fall AQH share gain was 4%, per BofA, based on results for the contemporary Christian music stations. The Wall Street analysts added one caveat to Salem's results: The Fall 2005 performance came "against a relatively easy comp, in our view, -0.3%. Based on the past several ratings books, [Salem's music stations] share trend seems flattish, in our opinion."

Radio One's own gains, +2.1% for AQH share in adults 25-54, came "despite the continued weakness in L.A.," per BofA's report. The analysts wrote that R&B hip hop KKBT Los Angeles was down 18%, year over year, "after a 31% decline in the Summer '05 book."

Excluding Radio One's L.A. results, the group's ratings share was up 4.8% according to BofA.