Broadcast TV Revenues Showing Signs of Improvement

Broadcast television's fortunes began to turn around in the fourth quarter of 2009 and evidence is mounting that the first quarter of 2010 will show positive growth, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) in conjunction with its release of 2009 estimates supplied by Kantar Media.

Total broadcast revenues were down only 4.5% in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with a total year decline of 12.9%. Susan Cuccinello, svp/research at TVB, said: "Local broadcast television revenues are definitely improving, judging by the anecdotal evidence from our stations and the preliminary numbers we've seen." Network TV posted a 3.3% gain for the fourth quarter of 2009 (and a 7.2% decline for the year); syndicated TV was down 10.7% for the quarter (and down 4.9% for the year), and local broadcast television was down 13.8% for the quarter (and was down 23.6% for the year). Among local broadcast's top ten individual advertisers, No. 1 Chrysler Group LLC was up 28.0% in the fourth quarter, No. 2 AT&T was up 20.6%, No. 3 Toyota Motor Dealers Association was up 16.1%, No. 4 Ford Motor Co Dealers Association was up 33.4%, No. 5 Verizon Communications was down 14.2%, No. 6 General Mills was down 16.4%, No. 7 Honda Motor Co was down 33.8%, No. 8 General Motors Corp. was down 5.6%, No. 9 Comcast was down 25.7%, and No. 10 McDonalds Corp. was up 34.0%.