Report: Advertisers May Be Leaving TV For Good

Television-advertising sales in the U.S. fell 7.8 percent to $61.8 billion last year, the steepest drop outside of a recession in at least 20 years, while sales at cable networks slumped for the first time in almost a decade. And there’s no sign of a pickup in 2018, excluding cyclical events like the Olympics and the midterm elections, according to data from Magna Global.

Bloomberg is reporting the decline in TV viewership is accelerating as online rivals Google and Facebook have increased their investments in video, capturing almost every new advertising dollar entering the marketplace. Television ad sales have fallen even as global advertising grows, leading research firms and analysts to predict that the business may never recover.

Media companies have relied on TV advertising dollars for more than 60 years, using money from commercials and sponsors to fund variety shows, sitcoms, dramas and news-gathering. Advertising constitutes about 41 percent of sales at CBS Corp., owner of the most-watched TV network in the U.S., and almost 30 percent at Fox.

Viewership of all four broadcast networks slipped by more than 10 percent last year among people age 18 to 49, the demographic most important to advertisers, according to MoffettNathanson. Cable networks, which once stole viewers from broadcast, are also suffering.

Live sporting events, which had been immune to the declines afflicting general entertainment programming, are also losing viewers. Ratings for the National Football League, the most-watched programming on TV, have fallen for two years in a row.

The decline robs media companies of eyeballs to sell to advertisers still hungry for live audiences. And TV networks with fewer ads to sell are also facing a revolt from some of their biggest advertisers.

No one is predicting the demise of TV advertising, but even media companies concede that sales at traditional networks may never reclaim their old highs. Instead, they must capture a larger share of marketing dollars being spent on the internet.’

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