TV Ad Spending Down 3% in Q3: Kantar

By Jon Lafayette
published

Ad spending on TV fell 3% in the third quarter, hurt by lower spending by consumer packaged goods companies on cable and fewer NFL games on broadcast.

The report from Kantar Media comes amid talk of a hot fourth-quarter scatter market for network ad time following a 2015-16 upfront that might have finished stronger than early signals indicated.

Cable TV spending by advertisers was down 4.2% as consumer packaged goods marketers cut back on the medium. CPG advertising usually accounts for about 20% of cable ad spending. Kantar said the same number of brands advertised, but bought less commercial time.

Broadcast network TV spending was down 1% in the quarter, Kantar said. The drop was caused by the scheduling of NFL games so that there was one fewer weekend of games in September this year compared with last year. Had the number of games been comparable, network TV spending would have been up 3% to 4%, Kantar added.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.