Broadcast Nets See More Scatter Activity, But Overall Media Ad Dollars Up

• by Wayne Friedman, September 18, 2015, 10:22 AM

Broadcast TV networks in August, for the most part, continued to see TV marketers placing more effort around buying TV inventory closer to airtime -- in the scatter market -- versus with upfront buys. When it came to scatter buys placed for the month, broadcast witnessed a 16% improvement, with cable networks registering flat volume in scatter year-to-year, per Standard Media Index, which culls data from the booking systems of five of six media agencies, totaling 80% of all U.S. national advertising spending.


Upfront dollars -- commitments made back in the summer 2014 -- showed 12% less volume for broadcast TV networks. Cable TV was 4% higher in business versus August 2014.
Generally, this higher scatter/lower upfront business has been a trend for broadcast, and some other networks, over the most recent months.


For August, total broadcast TV networks’ media business was down 6% on a year-to-year basis in the month, with cable TV networks up slightly by 3%.
TV was up overall in August, 3%. Spot TV gained 17%; syndication dropped 2%; and local cable picked 11%.


The best-performing networks included Hispanic broadcast networks, as well as double-digit volume gains for cable networks TNT, TBS, Food Network and AMC Networks. HGTV also scored well.
Overall advertising dollars -- for all media -- gained 11% in August versus the same month a year before. Digital media again was a big factor.


Digital media continued its strong upward trend -- gaining 21% versus the same month a year ago. Looking specifically at different digital media: social media, soared 87%; video sites, up 33%; and Internet radio, 26% higher.


Traditional out-of-home media climbed 41%; newspapers gained 11% (thanks to better back-to-school marketing business); and radio picked up 9%. Magazines sank 10%.