After you read the below article, it becomes obvious how important local-direct is to owners and managers! Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

Premium Streamers Slow TV Marketing Ad Spend, Down 18%

• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

With much of the premium streaming business still in "reset" mode for content and other costs, national TV marketing was down 18% in ad spend and media value over the last 90 days versus the same period a year earlier, according to EDO Ad EnGage.

From November 1 through January 31, there have been 56,390 airings resulting in 24.4 billion impressions -- amounting to a total estimated $179.3 million in national TV ad spend and media value -- from messaging placed on streamers’ sister linear TV networks, according to EDO Ad EnGage.

Over the same three-month period a year ago, total national TV ad spend and media value came in at $218.1 million, from 60,540 airings (down 7%), to 28.4 billion impressions (14% lower).

Top streaming brands this year include Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, with 21,310 airings, 6.2 billion impressions, and an estimated $33 million in spend, and media value coming from placement of ad messaging on its linear TV networks.

Other streamers include NFL+ with (2,350 airings, 1.6 billion impressions and $22.2 million spend/media value) and Amazon Prime Video (2,320 airings, 1.7 billion impressions, and $20 million in ad spend).

The Disney Bundle (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+) came in at 1,400 airings, 1.2 billion impressions, and $16.5 million in spend/value.

Like WDB, Paramount Global also heavily uses its linear TV networks for ad messages -- with 6,530 airings, 2.9 billion impressions, and $16.2 million in spend/value.

Disney's Hulu had the third-largest amount of airings at 3,590 -- also counting on Disney linear TV networks for support. This produced 1.2 billion impressions, totaling $4.32 million in spend/value.

Hulu's sister company streamer Disney+ had 1,580 airings, 1.6 billion impressions, and $10.5 million in spend/value.

The most dominant streamer -- Netflix -- spent $8.4 million in ad spend for just 34 airings, with a modest 287.7 million impressions.

In terms of content and other costs, national TV marketing was down 18% in ad spend and media value over the last 90 days versus the same period the previous year, according to EDO Ad EnGage.