According to Nielsen, 2,226,951 adults tune in to their favorite Tampa radio stations every week. This is significantly more consumers than are reached by all other advertising-supported media, including local TV, local cable, streaming video, social media, online audio, and local newspapers.

Tampa radio's unchallenged reach is why many local business owners depend on the medium to capture the largest possible share of the $65.6 billion dollars consumers are expected to spend at retail this year.

Other local small business owners, however, may be surprised to learn that by most marketing metrics, radio remains the best way to advertise in Tampa.

Here are four more facts about AM/FM radio that may surprise many local marketers.

Every week, according to Nielsen, Tampa Bay radio reaches 2,226,951 adults. This is more consumers than use any other medium, including local TV, local cable, streaming video, social media, online audio, and newspapers.

Reach, though, is only one component used to calculate ratings.  The other metric that contributes to the rating formula is the time spent using each medium. So, although for the past 10 years, AM/FM radio's reach has been significantly higher than the reach of local TV, consumers spent considerably more time watching TV. As a result of the math, TV has enjoyed higher ratings than radio.

For the first time, however, AM/FM radio ratings have exceeded local TV ratings by three percent among the key advertising demographic of 18-49-year-olds, according to Nielsen's Total Audience Data for the third quarter of 2023.

In the Tampa Bay area, there are 1,243,935 18-49-year-olds, the majority of whom are millennials, a generation that now accounts for nearly one-third of all retail spending.

Over the next 12 months, according to Nielsen, 337,945 Tampa Bay area households plan to buy furniture and mattresses. Based on a per capita forecast from Furniture Today, these expenditures will total $1.29 billion during 2023, a $23.5 million dollar increase over 2022.

Although the forecast growth of furniture and bedding sales is expected to moderate a bit versus 2021, what retailer would not want to grab a share of the multi-million dollar category growth this year?

To capture a bigger share of the increased spending on chairs, couches, beds, tables, and mattresses will require local stores to invest in marketing. And according to most key metrics, the best way to reach local furniture buyers is with advertising on Tampa Bay radio.

Tampa Bay area construction companies will need to recruit 5,580 more workers in 2023 in addition to the normal pace of hiring. This forecast is a per capita estimate based on research from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).  

The frenetic pace of recruiting construction workers in Tampa Bay is expected to extend into 2024, with an incremental 3,311 workers needed next year, as well, in addition to the normal pace of hiring.

Overall, the demand for construction workers in America has been increasing at an epic rate.

According to ABC, the construction industry averaged more than 390,000 job openings per month in 2022, the highest level on record, and the industry unemployment rate of 4.6% in 2022 was the second lowest on record, higher than only the 4.5% unemployment rate observed in 2019. In addition, national payroll construction employment was 231,000 higher in December 2022 than in December 2021.

Right now, filling open jobs at any Tampa Bay company is a struggle.

A recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business Owners found that after inflation, the most critical problem facing these businesses is the inability to recruit and retain quality employees.

Right now, says the Federal Reserve,  unfilled jobs remain near an all-time with 1.7 openings per unemployed person.  As a result, only one person is being hired per every four job openings.  To put this dismal hire-to-opening ratio in perspective, ten years ago, there was one hire per every job opening.

Compounding the recruitment woes of Tampa Bay's small business owners is the very stubborn quit rate.  According to the Federal Reserve, for every ten hires made, seven current employees quit. 

So, how can local builders and contractors fill the open jobs at their companies? Most metrics indicate that advertising on Tampa Bay Radio may be the best way.

Economic concerns among Tampa Bay area consumers are not expected to subdue holiday shopping in in 2022.  Based on forecasts from The National Retail Federation, local shoppers are projected to spend at least $9.6 billion this year. This would be 6% more than was spent in 2021.

“While consumers are feeling the pressure of inflation and higher prices, and while there is continued stratification with consumer spending and behavior among households at different income levels, consumers remain resilient and continue to engage in commerce,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “In the face of these challenges, many households will supplement spending with savings and credit to provide a cushion and result in a positive holiday season.”

The biggest challenge facing Tampa Bay business owners is keeping holiday spending local. NRF expects 10-12% of purchases to happen online from retailers like Amazon and Walmart.

To lay claim to this expanding pool of holiday spending,  and keep business local, small business owners will need advertising. By, most marketing metrics, the best way to advertise is on Tampa Bay radio.

According to Nielsen, 2.6 million adults in the Tampa Bay area have access to the internet. Eighty-two percent of these consumers conduct online research before making a retail purchase, says a report from GE Capital Bank. 

To reach Tampa Bay area adults in the market to buy their goods and services, businesses spent $1.9 billion in 2021 on digital adverting, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

This mammoth pool of online advertising dollars targeted at Tampa Bay consumers is being spent on a variety of digital resources including search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), display ads, video ads, audio ads, email, and social media. Each of these tools can precisely target consumers who are currently in the market to buy whatever it is a business is selling.

Most forms of online advertising are designed to compel Tampa Bay consumers to click on a digital ad that will transport them to the website of a company that sells whatever it is consumers are in the market to buy.  Is investing only in digital advertising enough to drive sales for a local business? 

Many marketing experts believe that online advertising needs to be part of a broader marketing strategy to be successful.

Tampa Bay area small business owners have an abundance of options for advertising their goods and services. Choices include local TV, local cable, social media, streaming video, streaming audio, podcasts, and newspapers.

The best way to advertise in Tampa Bay, however, is local radio.

Every week, according to Neilsen, 2.2 million adults tune-in to their favorite Tampa Bay radio stations. This is significantly more than any other advertising medium.

In addition to the adults who listen to Tampa Bay radio over-the-air, an incremental 93,926 adults connect to their favorite stations online as well using their phones, computers, and tablets. In all, according to Nielsen, 29.2% of all Tampa Bay radio listeners listen both online and offline.

Local consumers may have a gloomy feeling about economic conditions, but their spending has not tapered. This is good news for the 123,853 small business owners in the Tampa Bay area.

According to the latest University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers, sentiment about current economic conditions remains near the all-time low. Concerns about volatile gas prices, rampant inflation, and a looming recession have driven the survey's index down 37% versus a year ago.

Despite these dim consumer sentiments, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis's July report shows that real personal consumption expenditures are pacing well above pre-Covid levels. According to Morgan Stanley research, consumers' ability to spend is being driven, in part, by a massive amount of excess savings accumulated over the course of the pandemic.

Earlier this year, based on per capita spending data from the National Retail Federation (NRF). Tampa Bay consumers were forecast to spend nearly $50 billion at retail this year. The current level of spending suggests that shoppers are on track to hit that number.

Of course, for local business owners to successfully compete for a share of this record spending requires marketing. By most key marketing metrics, the best way to advertise is on Tampa Bay radio. This is especially true among business owners who must limit the number of marketing channels that can be used because of economic restraints.

Of all media, advertising on the radio provides the greatest return on investment.

West-central Florida business owners have depended on Tampa radio to market their goods and services since WDAE, the city's first radio station, went on air in 1922. Despite the advent of new media and technologies since then, advertising on local radio stations is still the best way for the area's 123,853 small business owners to create and maintain customers.

Here are five facts every business owner should know about advertising on Tampa radio in 2022.