revenue

In 2023, streaming surpassed broadcast and cable TV viewing for the first time, according to Nielsen. But in the current presidential election cycle of 2024, the mantra is — long live TV.

Newcomers Netflix and Disney Plus were not tracked.

Big TV station groups continue to see the greatest downside with affiliate revenue as a result of more pay TV cord-cutting, a Wells Fargo report says. According to the report, fewer pay TV subscribers — including in the most recent quarterly period — will eventually mean less affiliate revenue, especially for big, independently owned TV station companies. “We think the third quarter reiterates the weakness in some of our companies due to their high exposure to pay TV decline,” writes Steven Cahall, Wells Fargomedia analyst.

Wall Street analysts say that the rift can result in a migration of subscribers and could even tip Hollywood’s power structure.

Pay-TV and cable providers continued to bleed subscribers during the second quarter of 2023 as cord-cutting among consumers continued to accelerate. The largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. – who represent about 96% of the market – lost about 1.73 million net subscribers in the second quarter of 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 1.725 million during the same period a year ago, according to Leichtman Research Group.

The average cost of watching a major ad-free streaming service is going up by nearly 25% in about a year, as entertainment giants bet that customers will either pay up or switch to their cheaper and more-lucrative ad-supported plans.

The buzz about bundling has been steadily growing in TV industry circles since May, when Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav took a break from his usual mustache-twirling to lay out a case for why companies with streaming platforms needed to get on the ball and figure out a way to package their respective services together in one consumer-friendly package — a.k.a. a bundle.

Ad commitments for primetime broadcast TV fell 3%, to $9.595 billion, compared with $9.91 billion in last year’s market, according to Media Dynamics Inc., an advertising consultancy that tracks the upfront, when U.S. TV networks try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory for their next programming cycle. Cable TV saw even worse erosion, with advertisers committing $9.52 billion for primetime TV, down 7% compared to the $10.23 billion in commitments secured last year.

Globally, consumer spending on media — both content and technology — decelerated to 6.3% (rising to $2.186 trillion) in 2022, following 2021’s 6.9% surge, which was the strongest growth in a decade.

Without political advertising and with, possibly, a recession on the horizon, station groups rely on their customer-focused approach to drive cross-platform businesses with omnichannel, client-focused campaigns. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.

Twitter is still seeking ad partners for the World Cup, as the tournament heads into its final stretch. It is yet another example of how the platform’s beleaguered ad team is having a hard time winning back advertisers after the sudden drop-off of major brands that have fled in the Elon Musk era.

After record deal-making in 2021, the number and dollar value of M&A in media and telecommunications fell during the past 12 months through November, according to the latest report by PwC.

In another sign of the toll that macroeconomic disruption has been taking on the ad economy, more than a third of advertisers (35%) say they have reduced their 2022 advertising budgets due to increasing inflation and/or disruptions in their supply chain.

The revenue truth has been around for TV stations for some time — they cannot live and grow only from dependence on advertising (political and core) and affiliate revenues in the coming years. NextGen TV to the rescue, according to one TV consultant forecast from BIA Advisory Services.

TV commercials’ minutes per hour across total day viewing was at 13.3 minutes per hour versus 12.6 minutes in the second quarter of 2020, according to MoffettNathanson Research.

As this year’s political windfall rolls into a lean recovery year, broadcasters should target Big Tech with a BMI-like model and look to innovations like Graham Media’s membership scheme for some much-needed revenue diversification.

Univision Communications, the privately held Spanish-language broadcaster that recently changed hands, said it has close to $1.3 billion in available cash, $7.8 billion in debt and posted estimated revenue up 8% last quarter to $612 million. The Miami-based company said it was unveiling financial metrics and preliminary quarterly results as it considers potential refinancing transactions and market opportunities.