Business
The Writers Guild of The US (WGA) went on strike in Might possibly possibly additionally, striking novel scripted episodes of reveals on retain until they procure a more in-depth deal. How bad is that this for TV ad revenue? Ad revenue is already slipping from talk reveals, soap operas and sitcoms, a class that makes up 9% of the $26 billion in TV ads total, according to a witness taken in June, sooner than the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA went on strike, by ad sales intelligence company Media Radar.
Right here’s a detect at what the witness found out.
Scripted TV down. Talk reveals, soap operas and sitcoms took in 9%, or $2.36 billion, of $26 billion in TV ad revenue in the first half of 2023. Sales for these reveals are down 5% in comparison to H1 2022.
Because ad slots are frequently equipped several months in advance, the fleshy brunt of the WGA strike is aloof to come.
Primetime programming. Primetime TV programming saw a immense 15% drop this year, from $13.1 billion in H1 ‘22 down to $11.2 billion in H1 ‘23.
TV talk reveals were down 1% in ad utilize over the the same duration.
“Lucrative leisurely-evening talk reveals particularly devour been off the air already for a pair months,” acknowledged MediaRadar CEO Todd Krizelman, in a liberate. “Quickly, descend programming, together with talk reveals, soap operas and primetime sitcoms must air. Then again, that is prone to be delayed since they rely on writers thru the summer for scripts.”
Dig deeper: 4 methods to procure essentially the most out of CTV advertising
Bad timing. Some scripted reveals were gaining in ad revenue up until the strike.
As an illustration, ads for soap operas rose 17% YoY — from $101.5 million in H1 ‘22 to $118.6 million this year.
Additionally, sitcoms were up 16%, earning $2.2 billion in H1 2023, up from $1.9 billion closing year.
Why we care. This witness change into once based entirely totally on both traditional and digital channels. This year, digital ad utilize is roughly three-quarters of total utilize. And CTV is, on moderate, 10% of digital, and without observe climbing.
Even although streaming providers start up the vault to veteran episodes (on traditional TV, they’re known as reruns), digital TV does devour novel hits for “appointment viewing” — delight in Max’s only in the near past concluded “Succession” — and they’re all on retain.
So for the summer, TV ad revenue is at a standstill. Question of the true impact of the WGA strike to hit this descend.
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