TV ad spending’s actually quite robust
Never mind the gloom and doom over online encroaching on the No. 1 medium
By Toni Fitzgerald
December 18, 2015
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade generated a lot of advertiser interest in November.
Reading the batch of gloomy forecasts for television advertising last week, it seemed the medium’s growth days were behind it.
That may have been an exaggeration.
TV ad spending in November was downright robust, according to the latest data from Standard Media Index, which tracks ad spending on the part of 80 percent of U.S. agencies.
It rose 17 percent over last year, including a gain of 15 percent for broadcast, which had been lagging earlier this year.
“We are definitely seeing that the death of TV was a story that was overcooked,” James Fennessy, chief commercial officer at SMI, tells Media Life.
“Terrific NFL ratings, strong event-related programming and new fall shows continue to prove that TV is the dominant medium in which to attract high quality, engaged audiences in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.”
Broadcast saw the biggest spending gains from prescription pharmaceutical, which rose 58 percent, fast food, up 48 percent, and automotive, growing 22 percent.
Fennessy also notes that some advertisers who abandoned television for digital are returning after experiencing problems online.
“Viewability issues on digital are also really helping TV’s value proposition and we are seeing advertisers return to the medium after some experimentation in 2014-‘15, which possibly didn’t deliver the results that were hoped,” he says.
Overall, ad spending was up 23 percent in November, which tallied the biggest month for ad spending since SMI began tracking agency bookings in 2009. In fact, it was up 16 percent from the previous biggest month.
“Strong consumer sentiment heading into the holidays, stable TV ratings and an NFL season that’s attracting huge audiences augurs well for results in the coming months. Improved audience measurement on digital should also really the positive market trajectory we are currently seeing,” Fennessy says.
Virtually every media saw gains in November, even struggling print, where newspapers were up 22 percent and magazines gained 3 percent.
Out of home surged 44 percent, and radio was up 24 percent, with fast food providing a big jolt, up 70 percent for radio.
| Monthly Ad Spending Percent Change November 2015 |
|
| Medium | Percent Change (YoY) |
| Cable TV | 18% |
| Broadcast TV | 15% |
| Spot TV | 11% |
| Syndication | 25% |
| Local/MSO Cable | 28% |
| TV TOTAL | 17% |
| Content/Search | 20% |
| Ad Network/Ad Exchange | 41% |
| TV Network – Digital | 21% |
| Print – Digital | 19% |
| Video sites | 92% |
| Social media sites | 116% |
| Internet Radio | 76% |
| DIGITAL TOTAL | 37% |
| Magazines | 3% |
| Newspapers | 22% |
| Radio | 24% |
| Out Of Home | 44% |
| GRAND TOTAL | 23% |