Phoenix

Low gas prices are helping provide a boost to the overall economy in Phoenix, but the market’s media economy is more mixed, with TV spending down so far in 2015 and radio spending up. Spot TV spending in Phoenix is down about 4% year-to-year, and buyers expect more of the same for the rest of the year before things pick up in 2016 with political and Olympics spending.

NBC affiliate KPNX largely sells out inventory tied to the game, played in nearby Glendale. The market is healthy for television and radio and getting stronger as the year goes on.

Demand for local ad inventory in Phoenix has been on the rise since March. A great deal of political spending is expect this fall, which will help keep the market tight through the end of the year. On TV, retail and automotive ad categories led the surge at the end of first quarter, and that has continued through spring and summer.

Phoenix was one of the first major markets hit by the recession in late 2008 and early 2009, and now it’s one of the first to see a significant bounce-back, particularly where housing is concerned. That has helped contribute to a solid 2013 for the media economy, which is expected to finish the year better than 2012, despite the absence of political and Olympics advertising.

Phoenix was one of the markets hit hardest by the housing crisis, but the real estate market is improving, with home values up 25% year-to-year. Likewise, Phoenix’s media economy is healthy again, boosted by a good amount of political spending in first quarter due to an early primary in Arizona.

The former executive news producer at Phoenix Telemundo affiliate KTAZ moves across town to head up news at the Univision O&O.

The 25-year Scripps veteran leaves the groups’s Phoenix ABC affiliate to spend more time with her family in Tulsa.

PHOENIX (AP) — Mel’s Diner was once a star, appearing weekly on network television with its sign featuring a tipped coffee cup and an arrow of spilled coffee that pointed […]