TV Station Ad Revenue to Grow 3% Through 2022, Kagan Says

Television station ad revenue is expected to grow at a 3% compound annual rate over the next five years, according to a new report from Kagan.

Kagan, a part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, said TV stations generated $30.84 billion in revenue in 2016, including advertising and retransmission consent payments. Radio stations generated another $17.7 billion in revenue.

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TV advertising revenue is expected to decline 6.5% to $21.38 billion in 2017, a non-election, non-Olympic year. But in 2018, ad revenue will increase to $23.43 billion, with the Winter games and mid-term political campaigns.

Kagan said that while political ads will remain important, the TV station business is expected to become less reliant on the traditional spot marketplace, with a bigger share of revenues coming from retransmission and digital, reducing the swings from even and odd numbered years.

(Photo via FamZoo Staff's Flickr. Image taken on May 25, 2016 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 16x9 aspect ratio.)

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.