Tampa-St. Pete: Healthy TV spending

Medialife

Advertisers from a number of categories have lifted spending

By Diego Vasquez

May 19, 2015

 

The Tampa-St. Petersburg media market has been healthy in the first half of 2015, with pricing about flat to last year.

Overall TV spending in the market is flat to up slightly year-to-year, led by the automotive
category. But there are a number of other strong categories as well, including professional and legal services, retail–led by furniture and grocery–telecom and fast food.

“First quarter was very competitive, and stations are becoming more aggressive through May sweeps,” says Karen Swager, head of the media department at Media Garage Group in St. Petersburg.
The market has also seen dollars from a number of new advertisers, including Everbank, Community Coffee, Planet Fitness and Ideal Image, as well as auto dealers and dealer groups.

There has also been some unexpected political issue money this year, including spending from the environmental conservation group Everglades Trust on a drinking water issue.
While it’s seeing increased spending from a variety of categories and new advertisers, most in the market understand that this is the calm before the political storm hits in 2016.

The Tampa-St. Pete market is Florida’s largest TV DMA, ranking No. 13 this season, according to Nielsen. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale market is No. 16.

That means Tampa will see a good chunk of political spending leading into next year’s elections, as Florida is always a key battleground state in the presidential race.

“There has been political spending since the beginning of March this year–outside the political window–which means next year will be a huge political year,” says Swager.

“I can feel the political hangover already. [And] locals lose, from the client to the ad agency to the account reps to the constituents, who are bombarded with political ads from all directions.”
Meanwhile, radio in the Tampa market is also healthy, particularly in the usual hot dayparts such as morning and afternoon drive times.

Top categories include auto, fast food and telecom.
One thing providing a boost to the Tampa radio market is the recent playoff run by the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, who are currently facing the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

News/talk station WFLA-AM carries the team’s games, and while buzz and momentum are building, it’s not too late for advertisers who are interested.
“There have been increases in spending for Lightning playoffs, but inventory is still available for this week’s games,” Swager says.

Tampa has a solid list of stations that perform relatively well, including 16 in April that posted at least a 2.5 average quarter-hour listener share, according to Nielsen Audio.

But soft adult contemporary station WDUV-FM is the clear leader in the market, posting an 11.1 AQH share in April. That was nearly five full ratings points ahead of classic hits station WXGL-FM, which was No. 2 with a 6.2 AQH share.

Tampa Top 15 Radio Stations April 2015
#	Station	Format	Feb 15	Mar 15	Apr 15
1	WDUV-FM	Soft AC	11.6	11.1	11.1
2	WXGL-FM	Classic Hits	5.8	5.7	6.2
3	WFLZ-FM	CHR	5.8	6.6	6.1
4	WRBQ-FM	Classic Hits	5.4	5.8	5.5
5	WBTP-FM	Urban	5.6	5.3	5.3
6	WWRM-FM	AC	4.5	4.2	5.3
7	WLLD-FM	Rhythmic CHR	5.1	4.9	5.0
8	WQYK-FM	Country	5.2	5.0	4.9
9	WFUS-FM	Country	4.5	4.3	4.7
10	WMTX-FM	AC	4.9	4.7	4.5
11	WPOI-FM	CHR	4.0	4.7	4.4
12	WFLA-AM	News/Talk	4.4	4.4	3.9
13	WXTB-FM	Active Rock	3.5	3.8	3.9
14	WDAE-AM	Sports	2.6	2.6	3.1
15	WCIE-FM	Christian CHR	2.6	2.7	2.6
Source: Nielsen Audio. Average number of persons, ages 6+, who listened during any average quarter hour from 6am to midnight, Monday through Sunday in the Metro Survey Area.