Television advertising revenue in the U.S. is expected to grow at a slow 1.3% annual rate to $74.9 billion in 2022 after a dip in 2017, according to a new forecast by PwC.
In its global Entertainment and Media Outlook report, PwC notes that “as audiences continue to shift to digital and advertisers pursue more multichannel campaigns, there is a need to develop new TV ad formats that are more likely to catch and keep viewers’ attention.”
Ad revenue fell to $70 billion in 2017, a year without spending on the Olympics or a Presidential election.
But PwC says that TV remains a premiere advertising destination for advertisers. It is the primary vehicle for new product launches and for mass audience appeal.
The outlook is less rosy for subscription revenues. PwC says subscription TV revenue in the U.S. was down 1.9% to $98.9 billion in 2017 and will contract at a compounded annual rate of 1.3% through 2022 to $92 billion.
This forecast represents our core scenario: one of ongoing, but less-than-precipitous, decline for the traditional pay-TV sector,” the PwC report says. “But there is no doubt that the traditional pay-TV market is approaching a near-term tipping point, where it must continue the process it has already put in play – to reinvent itself with the introduction of next-generation platforms, wholesale or retail opportunities, video consumption anchored to the broadband product in the home, aggregation capabilities and on-the-go alternatives.”
