National TV Spending Rises To $3.1B In September

The return of the NFL in September pushed national linear TV advertising spending up 1% year-over-year to $3.1 billion, according to MediaPost citing data from Guideline.

Advertising spend for NFL programming witnessed a 32% year-over-year gain during the month.

The NFL's share of all national linear TV advertising dollars is now at 30% -- up from a 24% share in September 2023.

Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” is included because it is sold as a linear TV program, with guarantees coming via Nielsen.

The broader third-quarter 2024 period (July through September) grew 5% over the same period in 2023. Broadcast TV networks rose 24%, while cable TV networks were down 6% and national syndication advertising deal-making dropped 41%.

This year’s third quarter had a 6% rise in spend coming from deals made in the summer upfront selling period in 2023, a 13% increase from near-term scatter market deal-making and a 19% drop in direct response advertising deals.

Since the start of 2024 -- for the nine-month period so far -- overall national linear TV ad revenue is down 4% year-over-year.

Sports programming is up 19% over that period with entertainment programming down by “double digit” percentages and news programming rising 7%.

Since the start of the year, only four of 12 advertising categories have shown gains: technology (4%), financial services (3%), travel services (2%) and apparel & accessories (1%).