Comcast was radio’s top advertiser for the first eight months of 2023, based on dollars invested, according to new data provided to Inside Radio by Vivvix. The internet service provider spent $69.1 million on AM/FM radio promoting its Xfinity Internet and Comcast Business services from January – August 2023. That moved the Philadelphia-based company ahead of Pfizer, which was radio’s top ad spender in full-year 2022.
Pfizer ranked second in the first eight months of 2023 with a $59.5 million radio investment. The 174-year-old multinational is the manufacturer of Prevnar 20, Paxlovid and other prescription drugs and has done work with BioNTech to ensure access to the latest vaccines. Pfizer is a big network radio user.
Progressive ranks third among radio’s top advertisers for the eight months ending Aug. 31, 2023 – and first among insurance carriers. The home of Flo, Jamie, and the rest of the Progressive ambassadors shelled out $45.0 million on broadcast radio, advancing from fifth place on the Vivvix 2022 ranker.
Employment recruitment service Indeed held in fourth place for the Jan-Aug 2023 period with a $29.7 million radio outlay. T-Mobile finished fifth – and first among cellular providers – with a $25.8 million radio investment, down two positions from third place in 2022.
Retail, Local Services Are Top Categories
Drilling down into ad categories, Retail, the largest ad category for radio in 2022 held that distinction again from January – August 2023. Retailers invested $728.0 million in the medium during the eight-month period, according to Vivvix. Local Services was a close second at $704.2 million. Financial and Insurance held steady in third place, with a $534.1 million radio investment. It was followed by Government and Organizations in fourth place ($246.9 million) and Media in fifth ($351.3 million). Each of the top five categories finished in the same order for the first eight months of 2023 as they did for all of 2022.
Vivvix sources its network radio ad expenditure from the accounting firm Miller Kaplan. The data provided by Miller Kaplan is a provider-blind, aggregated view of radio ad spend across more than a dozen participating networks that preserves each provider’s confidentiality, Vivvix says.
Vivvix’s National Spot Radio Service provides nationally placed spot radio data for approximately 4,000 stations in more than 225 markets. Its station-level occurrence detail for local radio advertising covers over 825 stations in 45 top radio markets.
Earlier this month, MediaRadar, owned by private equity fund Thompson Street Capital Partners and investment fund Endicott Capital, said it had acquired Vivvix from Kantar Group. Terms of the deal were not revealed. With the addition of Vivvix, MediaRadar is positioning itself as a definitive source of ad data and insights, serving the entire media ecosystem.