TV Ad Spending Expected to Trend Lower: GroupM

A new forecast by media buying giant GroupM sees advertising spending on TV turning downward.

GroupM sees TV spending--excluding political ad spending--registering a 0.2% decline in 2019 and sliding 2.3% Excluding political advertising, spending on television ads grew 0.7% in 2018,

Including political advertising, GroupM expects TV spending to be down 5.4% in 2019 following 6% growth in 2018, and rebounding 3.6% in 2020.

“Television continues to face challenges as media owners navigate the relative weakness of the marketers who represent the bulk of the medium’s revenues,” Brian Wieser, global president for business intelligence at GroupM, said in a report.

But he noted that television in its new form--including over-the-top and other addressable formats--”is benefitting from the emergence of new advertisers” including app-developing technology companies.

Overall, GroupM is expecting a 5.8% increase in ad spending excluding political ads, in 2019 and 4.8% growth in 2020. Last year, according to GroupM, U.S. advertising, excluding political advertising, was up 6%.

Including political spending, advertising was up 9.5% in 2018, with a 2.6% gain expected in 2019 and 8.2% growth forecast for 2020. Political advertising accounted for about $9 billion in spending in 2018.

GroupM’s advertising measurement includes digital media, television, newspapers, magazines, radio and out-of-home media.

Digital advertising, from which GroupM excludes television content viewed over the internet, including political, was up 23% in 2018 and is forecast to increase 15% in 2019 and 16% in 2020.

On an underlying basis we expect modest growth for outdoor advertising in 2019 and 2020 and modest declines for radio. We also anticipate sustained declines for print media into the future.

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.