The New York Liberty celebrate their 2024 WNBA Championship victory 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 experience positive momentum until 2025 – especially for media companies with sports rights and tentpole live programs.
Sports and live events such as awards ceremonies were the focus of discussions with media managers who expressed their expectations for the advertising market in the coming year. The end of uncertainty surrounding the election also helped the outlook improve, they said.
And even though consumers are turning away from traditional TV packages and more advertising dollars are flowing into streaming, executives emphasized that traditional TV is still important in conversations with advertisers, especially when it comes to sports.
Overall, executives said they expect stability in the market and hope to overcome the decline in advertising spending in recent years.
“Normalization is the right word for the advertising market,” said Mark Marshall, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships. “Now that the election has been decided, many companies feel that the uncertainty surrounding it has disappeared.”
He added that the company saw more so-called scatter market budgets in the fourth quarter, which in the industry refers to the buying and selling of ads closer to their air date compared to ads further out be purchased.
“Our first quarter looks really strong. I think the fourth quarter of every election year is challenging for everyone because many marketers end up inactive because the airwaves and the digital world are crowded,” said Dan Porter, CEO of sports media company Overtime. “I think that applies to us and to everyone.”
But despite the post-election boost in advertising revenue and forecast stability, Natalie Bastian, global chief marketing officer at Teads, said she expects many of the same trends.
Bastian noted that 2024 included major events such as the Summer Olympics and presidential elections, which increased TV advertising revenue. However, she assumes that the same budgets will be carried over into the new year.
“What we've heard generally from some of our closest partners: Media budgets aren't growing and there's just more choice where [advertisers are] “People spend their money,” says Bastian. This makes sports and live programs even more important for media companies.
Overall, the global advertising industry is expected to exceed $1 trillion in total revenue this year for the first time (excluding U.S. political advertising), and will grow 7.7% to $1.1 trillion in 2025. Dollar will grow, according to a recent report from GroupM, WPP Group's media investment arm. Advertising on digital platforms – which includes retail media – is driving this increase.
Television, considered “the most effective form of advertising,” is expected to grow nearly 2% to $169.1 billion in total global advertising revenue in 2025. By comparison, according to GroupM, advertising revenue for “pure-play digital,” which “excludes the digital extensions of traditional media” like streaming but includes platforms like YouTube and TikTok, is expected to grow 10% globally in 2025 to 813, 3 billion US dollars will grow.
to do sports
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass waves the Olympic flag as International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach applauds during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France on August 11, 2024 in Paris, France.
Carl Recine | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Sports continue to attract large audiences and advertisers, resulting in media companies paying large sums of money for the rights to games.
According to EDO, an advertising data company, commercials during live sporting events generated 24% more engagement than other programs.
“Live event coverage will continue to be a cornerstone of media engagement and streaming services need to step up their game,” said Tim Hurd, vice president of media at Goodway Group. “As more streaming platforms turn their attention to sports, the challenge is to captivate viewers, not just by offering content, but by enhancing the overall experience with personalized, uninterrupted advertising units.”
ComcastAccording to NBCUniversal, the Summer Olympics in Paris generated a record $1.2 billion in advertising revenue. It appeared to have paid off, with the company reporting total viewership of more than 30 million people across NBC's TV and streaming platforms.
Fox Corp. Executives said the company had already sold out next February's Super Bowl ads, which reportedly cost about $7 million each. The 2024 Super Bowl had an estimated 123.7 million viewers.
And Disney said that ads for the Christmas Day NBA games sold out two weeks before they aired. The company added that advertising revenue for the entire NBA season is “up significantly” compared to last year and that the postseason is “already starting to see movement” in the broadcast market.
Viewership for women's sports, driven particularly by the WNBA, has also increased over the past year, meaning more opportunities for advertisers.
“This goes beyond Caitlin Clark, although she is a tremendous catalyst,” said Josh Mattison, executive vice president of digital revenue pricing, planning and operations at Disney Advertising. “This has been a year of change in terms of audiences.”
According to EDO, WNBA viewership reached a record in 2024 and consumers were 16% more likely to interact with advertising during those games compared to the previous year. But while advertisers spent $8.5 billion on sports TV advertising in 2024, women's sports accounted for just 3% of that number, according to EDO, leaving plenty of room for growth next year.
The growing popularity of women's sports and its importance to media companies was highlighted this month Netflix secured US rights to the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup. The streaming giant has expanded its sports portfolio, as have its competitors in the traditional and digital media space.
Linear meaning
A view from an ESPN cameraman during the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals on December 4, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
David Rosenblum | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
While consumers are cutting the cord and streaming services are now snapping up sports rights, linear TV viewership still significantly exceeds streaming viewers.
“There are still declines in linear TV in many markets, but not in all markets,” said Kate Scott-Dawkins, global president of business intelligence at GroupM, noting that there are international markets that are seeing growth. “When we talk about total television, there is still a lot of opportunity and hopefully a renewed appreciation for how effective the medium can be.” [for advertisers].”
Amy Leifer, chief ad sales officer of DirecTV Advertising, said the company expects continued growth in programmatic ad spending, or automated digital ad buying, in streaming.
“Despite the shift to streaming, linear TV still has a significant advantage in advertising impressions, generating six times more than streaming,” said Leifer.
Executives said they have been talking to advertisers about how to consider linear and streaming solutions together when paying out advertising dollars.
Leifer said DirecTV Advertising's mantra is: “TV is TV,” regardless of distribution method. “Our focus for 2025 is to unify digital and linear TV advertising through a comprehensive approach and develop convergent TV solutions,” she added.
Both NBCUniversal's Marshall and Disney's Mattison said advertisers previously focused on linear “versus” streaming. That is no longer the case.
“The playing field [we made to advertisers] Last year you really can't compare one against the other. When launched on a platform, the question becomes how to consider digital and linear together. “That’s made a big difference,” Marshall said, noting that older viewers are more present on linear television while younger generations have gravitated toward streaming.
Marshall said NBCUniversal's Peacock “hasn't cannibalized linear” because there's little overlap between the two distribution channels' content. “It’s actually two different audiences,” Marshall said.
Mattison noted that Disney's extensive sports portfolio and its various platforms in linear and streaming, with TV networks such as ABC and ESPN as well as the streaming service ESPN+, whose content will be added to Disney+, are an advantage.
“The convergence [of the streaming apps] is really good for consumers, which leads to growth for advertisers,” he said. “We are fortunate to have spent years developing our streaming advertising technology and are able to maximize audience reach, targeting and performance.”
“Maybe a few years ago it was linear versus streaming. I think now it’s linear AND streaming,” Mattison continued. “They are planned together, so to speak. This applies to both the media side and the advertising side.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent company NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics owns the U.S. broadcast rights for all summer and winter games through 2032.
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