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, says TV stations generated $30.84 billion in revenue in 2016, including advertising and retransmission consent payments. Radio station generated another $17.7 billion in revenue.
TV advertising revenue is expected to decline 6.5% to $21.38 billion in 2017, a non-election, non-Olympic year, with rises in other revenue categories (including 18% in retransmission consent, to $10.23billion) not fully offsetting the loss. But in 2018, ad revenue will increase to $23.43 billion, with the Winter games and mid-term political campaigns.
Kagan says 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.
