The New York Liberty celebrate winning the 2024 WNBA Championship against the Minnesota Lynx during Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals at Barclays Center on October 20, 2024 in Brooklyn, New York.
David Sherman | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
The advertising market will see positive momentum heading into 2025, especially for media companies with rights to sports events and popular live programming.
Live events such as sports and awards ceremonies dominated conversations with media executives as they looked ahead to the advertising market in the year ahead. They said the end of uncertainty surrounding the election also helped improve the outlook.
Even as consumers flee the traditional TV bundle and more ad dollars go toward streaming, executives stressed that traditional TV remains important in discussions with advertisers, especially when it comes to sports.
Overall, executives said they expect the market to remain stable and hope to move beyond a slowdown in ad spending in recent years.
“Normalization is the right word for the advertising market,” said Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. “With the election now certain, many companies are feeling the uncertainty has gone away.”
He added that the company saw more so-called spread marketing budgets in the fourth quarter, which is what the industry calls buying and selling ads closer to air dates versus buying ads farther away.
“Our first quarter looks very strong. I think the fourth quarter in any election year is challenging for anyone because a lot of marketers end up sitting on their hands because of the crowded broadcast and digital pipelines,” Sports Chief CEO Dan Porter says media companies are working overtime. “I think that’s true for us and that’s true for everybody.”
However, despite post-election ad revenue increases and stable forecasts, Teads global chief marketing officer Natalie Bastian said she expects many of the same trends.
Bastian noted that 2024 includes key moments such as the Summer Olympics and the presidential election, bolstering TV ad revenue. However, she expects the same budget to continue into the new year.
“The message we’re hearing from some of our closest partners is that … media budgets are not growing, so (advertisers) have more choice in where they spend their money,” Bastian said. That leaves sports and live Programming is even more important to media companies.
Overall, total global advertising revenue is expected to exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year (excluding U.S. political advertising) and will grow 7.7% in 2025 to $1.1 trillion. recent reports From GroupM, the media investment group under WPP. Advertising on digital platforms, including retail media as a segment, is driving this growth.
Television is considered the “most effective advertising format” and total global advertising revenue is expected to grow by nearly 2% by 2025, reaching $169.1 billion. In contrast, GroupM said advertising revenue from “pure digital media” is expected to grow 10% to $813.3 billion by 2025, excluding “digital extensions of traditional media” such as streaming media, but including YouTube and platforms like TikTok.
Advocate for sports
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass waves the Olympic flag as International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach applauds during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games at the Stade de France on August 11, 2024 in Paris, France.
Carl Lessing | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Sports continue to attract large audiences and advertisers, prompting media companies to Pay huge fees for game rights.
According to advertising data company EDO, ads during live sporting events receive 24% higher engagement than other programming.
“Live event reporting will continue to be the cornerstone of media engagement, and streaming services must step up,” said Tim Hurd, vice president of media at Goodway Group. “As more and more streaming platforms get involved in sportsthe challenge will be to keep audiences engaged, not just by delivering content, but through personalized, non-disruptive ad units that enhance the overall experience.
ComcastNBCUniversal said the Paris Summer Olympics generated a record $1.2 billion in advertising revenue. It appears to have paid off, with the company reporting a combined audience of more than 30 million viewers across NBC television and streaming platforms.
Fox Corporation Executives said that the company’s Super Bowl ads in February this year have been sold out. It is said Each costs about $7 million. 2024 super bowl estimated 123.7 million viewers.
and disney Advertisements for its Christmas Day NBA game sold out two weeks before airing. The company added that ad revenue throughout the NBA season was “significantly higher” than last year and that it was “already seeing early changes” in the playoffs across dispersed markets.
Audience numbers for women’s sports also increased last year, especially driven by the WNBA, which means more opportunities for advertisers.
“Caitlin Clark is a huge catalyst, but her abilities go beyond The scope of her abilities. “It’s been a transformational year as far as audiences are concerned. “
Data from EDO shows that the WNBA is seeing record attendance in 2024, with consumers 16% more likely to be exposed to ads during these games compared to last year. But while advertisers will spend $8.5 billion on sports TV advertising in 2024, women’s sports will account for just 3% of that figure, leaving plenty of room for growth next year, according to EDO.
The growing popularity of women’s sports and its importance to media companies was evident this month: Netflix Acquired U.S. broadcast rights to the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
linear importance
ESPN photographers capture footage during a game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals at EverBank Stadium on December 4, 2023 in Jacksonville, Florida.
David Rosenblum | Illustrated Sports Line | Getty Images
Although consumers are While cord-cutting and streaming services are snapping up sports rights, linear TV still has far more viewers than streaming.
“Linear TV is still declining in many markets, but not in all markets,” said Kate Scott-Dawkins, GroupM’s president of global business intelligence. She noted that some international The market is growing. “When we talk about all-TV, there’s still a lot of opportunity, and hopefully people will regain a sense of its effectiveness as a medium (for advertisers).”
DirecTV Advertising chief ad sales officer Amy Leifer said the company expects programmatic ad spending or automated digital ad buying in streaming media to continue to grow.
“Despite the shift to streaming, linear TV still has a significant advantage in ad impressions, generating six times the ad volume of streaming,” Leifer said.
Executives said they have been discussing with advertisers how to combine linear and streaming media when paying for ads.
Leifer said DirecTV Advertising’s mantra is “TV is TV,” regardless of distribution method. “Our focus in 2025 is to unify digital and linear TV advertising by taking an integrated approach and developing converged TV solutions,” she added.
Both NBCUniversal’s Marshall and Disney’s Matthiessen said advertisers have historically focused on linear “versus” streaming. This is no longer the case.
“The pitch[we made to advertisers]last year was that you really can’t compare one to the other. When it’s rolled out to a platform, it’s how you look at digital versus linear. That makes a huge difference, Marshall said, noting that older viewers watch more linear TV, while younger generations tend to watch streaming TV.
Marshall said NBCUniversal’s Peacock “is not cannibalizing linear programming” because there is little overlap in content between the two distribution pipelines. “These are really two very different audiences,” Marshall said.
Mattison pointed to Disney’s broad sports portfolio and its various platforms across linear and streaming media, including TV networks such as ABC and ESPN, as well as the streaming service ESPN+ that adds content to Disney+, as always a strength.
“The integration (of streaming apps) is really good for consumers, and it will lead to growth for advertisers,” he said. “We’re fortunate that we’ve spent years building out our streaming ad technology, and we’re able to maximize audience reach as well as targeting and performance.”
“Maybe a few years ago, it was linear versus streaming. I think now it’s linear versus streaming,” Mattison continued. “They planned it together. Both on the media side and on the advertiser side.”
Revealed: Comcast owns CNBC parent company NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. rights holder for all summer and winter Olympics through 2032.
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