Local TV Ad Revenues, 2006-2017 [CHART]

Chart - Local TV Ad Revenues

Political advertising fueled a 13% increase in local TV ad revenues last year, to $20.8 billion, details BIA/Kelsey in newly-released data. Certain markets which featured heavily-contested campaigns saw significant jumps: for example, the Wisconsin markets were up by more than 40% overall, while the Ohio markets experienced an average increase of almost 38%. While online properties saw rapid growth, over-the-air (OTA) delivered a healthy increase of 12.8%, up to $20.2 billion. With revenues growing faster than expected last year, the researchers project spending to “normalize” this year.

That is, OTA revenues are expected to drop by about $1 billion, or 5%, although online revenues will continue their upward trend. In 2014, ad revenues will rebound, projected to grow by 6.5% to reach $21.2 billion, which would be their highest level since 2007.

Although OTA revenues are expected to fluctuate during the next 5 years, online revenues should continue their steady growth, adding $0.1 billion to the pie with each passing year. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.