over-the-air radio – TALKERS magazine

BIA Advisory Ups U.S. Local Advertising Forecast

By TALKERS | September 14, 2026 by TALKERS

BIA Advisory Services updates its 2026 U.S. Local Advertising Forecast, projecting total local ad revenue to reach $186.1 billion, up $1.6 billion (+0.9%) from the firm’s April 2026 estimate of $184.5 billion and approximately 9% year over year from 2025. BIA predicts that 6.5% of that ad spend will go to over-the-air radio and digital radio – about $12.2 billion. BIA says the increase is driven primarily by higher political ad spending heading into the midterms, along with continued strength in mobile.

Industry News

BIA Advisory: ’24 Political Ad Spend to Hit $11.1 Billion

By TALKERS | March 21, 2024 by TALKERS

BIA Advisory Services reveals its forecast for the political ad spend in the U.S. for the 2024 election cycle and it expects the total to be just over $11 billion – that’s $1.5 billion more than was spent in the 2020 elections. BIA states, “While local ad spending on digital is growing, traditional advertising is forecast to account for 70.2% of political ad spend in 2024, down from 77.9% in 2020. As with past presidential elections, in 2024 over-the-air TV (TV OTA) will get the largest share of political ad dollars in local with an estimated $4.6 billion in forecast spending. Add in TV Digital, and the number rises to $4.9 billion. PC/Laptop will be the second highest at $1.3 billion, followed by Cable TV at $1.1 billion. Cable TV is the only media channel forecast to be down from 2020 in this category, by nearly $183 million. Coming in fourth is relative newcomer Connected TV/Over-the-top TV (CTV/OTT), which is forecast to grow to $1.0 billion in 2024 from only $74 million in 2020. Over-the-air radio remains steady with $536 million in 2024, up 16% from 2020.”