Procter & Gamble dominated local radio ad spending in 2021, while Comcast topped the list for national spot radio, according to Ad Age's report of U.S. measured-media spending for the year, based on data from Kantar.
P&G, also the top broadcast, cable and syndicated television advertiser and second-largest magazine advertiser for the year, spent $81 million on local radio in 2021, well ahead of Comcast's $53 million. The U.S. government (Ad Council) ranked third at $46 million, followed by Berkshire Hathaway (GEICO) at $43 million and Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) at $37 million.
Rounding out the top 10, with ad spend between $25-33 million, were Amazon, Macy's, McDonald's, Lowe's and Recruit Holdings Co. (Indeed.com).
On the national spot radio side, with spend excluding network radio, Comcast's $91 million edged out T-Mobile's $87 million, while Ad Council and GEICO ranked third and fourth ($47 million each) and Walt Disney Co. placed fifth ($36 million). The rest of the top 10, with ad spend ranging from $21-30 million: Inspire Brands (Dunkin, Arby's, Sonic, Buffalo Wild Wings and others), Kroger, DraftKings, United Services Automobile Association (USAA) and AT&T.
Kantar's breakdown of U.S. measured-media ad spend by medium for 2021 showed radio at $4.7 billion for all advertisers and $1.8 billion for Ad Age's 200 leading national advertisers. The top 200 accounted for 39% of U.S. measured-media radio spending.
Across all media, retail led all ad categories in U.S. measured-media spending with $9.9 billion, followed by medicine and remedies at $9.5 billion and telecom with $9.3 billion. Categories showing the largest gains from 2020 were financial services (up 29.6%), media (+26.3%) and telecom (+16.9%).