National TV Ad Spending Slips 1% In Q2

• by Wayne Friedman , August 9, 2022

Following recent trends of the last several years, national linear TV advertising spending continues to weaken slightly compared to previous years, as June dipped 1% to $3.1 billion, according to Standard Media Index.

The decline in June followed a 2% drop in May (which landed at around $3.2 billion). April was up 1% ($3.1 billion).

Looking more broadly at the second quarter of this year, national TV ad spend was down 1% (to about $9.4 billion). Cable TV networks slipped 1%, while broadcast networks lost 2% and U.S. syndication was 6% higher.

Cable TV came in at $6 billion for the April-June 2020 period -- maintaining its two-thirds share of all national TV linear ad spend. Seventy-five percent of all national TV ad spend in the second quarter came via upfront deals made a year ago.

In better news, national TV spend is up 13% versus April-June 2020, a period heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, national TV spend in the second quarter of this year is down 20% from 2019, when it was at around $11.8 billion.

In terms of overall market share, the top five network-based media owners in terms of national TV ad spend in June: Warner Bros. Discovery (21%); Walt Disney (19%); Comcast Corp. (18%); Paramount Global (16%); and Fox Corp. (5%).

The top five TV network-based media companies collectively pulled in 80% of all national TV advertising dollars in June. 

SMI captures 95% of all media agency spend -- all major holding companies and most major independents -- with data coming from raw billing records of all national media transactions. This includes television, digital, out-of-home, print, and radio.