November Sees Strong U.S. Ad Revenue Gains, Digital And TV Best Performers

 

• by Wayne Friedman, 8 hours ago

Strong TV and digital advertising rocketed November’s U.S. advertising revenues 23% higher versus the same month a year ago. Standard Media Index says the entire TV category witnessed a 17% gain for the month, with national broadcast up 15% and national cable 18% higher. SMI says cable networks ESPN, HGTV, TBS, and Food Network had double-digit percentage gains.

Much of the national TV improvements came from scatter market bookings during the month: 44% more revenue for national broadcast and up 24% for national cable. Upfront spending during the month witnessed a 9% improvement for broadcast and a 16% increase for cable versus November 2014.

Even higher gains of 28% were recorded for local cable sales, while  national syndication was up 25%. Spot TV grew 11% for the month.

Digital media continued to show strong improvements -- 37% higher, as social media more than doubled its revenue with an increase of 116%. Digital video revenues also around the same hikes, boosting 92%.

Advertising on digital content sites was up 20%, and programmatic media revenues grew 41%.
Other media also showed strong increases: Out-of-home, 44%; newspapers, 22%; and radio, 24%. Magazines were only able to increase 3% in revenue.

SMI’s results come from booking systems of five of the six global media holding groups, as well as leading independents, amounting to 80% of total national U.S. agency ad spending.