SMI: U.S. Ad Market Grew 3.8 Percent in 2017

According to Standard Media Index (SMI), the advertising market in the U.S. grew 3.8 percent in 2017, led by digital, which saw an 11.9-percent increase.

Cable TV experienced a 2.4-percent decrease, while broadcast was down 3.9 percent. CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and ESPN were the top five networks, bringing in a combined 42.4 percent of the television ad dollars in the U.S. CBS was down 4.2 percent year-on-year, mostly due to the loss of the Super Bowl. That went to FOX, which posted 14.2-percent growth. ABC dipped 2.3 percent, and NBC declined 15.5 percent, which is entirely attributed to the impact of Olympics in 2016. Excluding the Olympics, NBC would have been up by 4 percent.

In 2017, across all platforms, news media saw 4.1 percent more spend, while entertainment programs were flat (down by just 0.8 percent) and sports declined by 12 percent. Excluding the Olympics, sports declined just 1.3 percent year-on-year. Despite the end of the election cycle last year, cable news continued to grow in 2017. FOX News increased by 11.2 percent, CNN by 13.6 percent and MSNBC by 17.8 percent.

“Heading into 2018, ad spend in national television is trending positively while digital’s growth continues to slow,” said Standard Media Index CEO James Fennessy. “National television declined in 2017, but that is almost entirely due to the Olympics in ’16. We see national brand advertisers paying really high CPM’s for quality drama, and sports programming, despite falling audiences. This speaks to the power of TV to reach audiences with their brand message via a full-screen experience with no fraud.”