Like other media this year, radio is trending to make back some gains versus the pandemic-related declines of 2020. Projections are for over-the-air advertising to rise nearly 10% in 2021 to $11.7 billion, according BIA Advisory Services.

A year ago, radio was hit with a massive 23.6% drop to $9.7 billion. Radio advertising was at $12.8 billion in 2019.

Better news in 2020 was digital ad revenues. That piece of the overall total ad revenues for radio stations had a more modest drop of 6% to $939 million. It was $1 billion in 2019.

For this year, BIA sees digital ad revenue returning to the $1 billion level.

“Local radio stations have been feeling the impact of new competition for the past few years; unfortunately, the pandemic just exacerbated the problem — and it will take some time to recover,” stated Mark Fratrik, senior vice president-chief economist, of BIA Advisory Services.

Also, radio stations deal-making steeply dropped to just 534 stations sold in 2020 with a total estimated value of $139 million. In 2019, there was 752 stations sold with a total valuation of $1.12 billion.