• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 25, 2023

Household TV ad impressions rose 1.4% year-over-year in the third quarter, while national TV ad spending dropped 5.95%, according to iSpot.tv’s TV Transparency Report for the period. 

Q3 national ad on first-airing linear TV, excluding regional sports networks, totaled an estimated $8.18 billion. 

Household TV ad impressions totaled 2.15 trillion — the most since Q4 2022’s 2.22 trillion. 

Despite the writers’ and actors’ strikes that limited the debuts of high-cost tentpole events, “ads continued to reach and resonate with viewers tuning into favorites like ‘Friends,’ ‘NCIS’ and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,” notes the report. 

Looking at share of streaming service promo impressions (streamers' own TV ad campaigns, not advertisers on these platforms), Paramount+ led with a 16.42% share, followed by Disney+ (10.85%), Hulu (10.8%), Max (8.3%), Prime Video (6.18%), Peacock (6.02%), YouTube TV (4.45%), Pluto TV (4.38%), Fox Nation (3.86%) and Sling TV (3.54%). 

YouTube TV saw the greatest gain in year-over-year rank change, leaping 31 places to the No. 7 position. Max gained seven positions, to land at No. 4. 

NFL games delivered 9% of Q3 TV ad impressions for streaming services (No. 1 among all programs). College football ranked second, with 3.2%. Eight out of the top 10 most-seen streaming service TV advertisers in Q3 are affiliated with parent companies that have secured NFL game rights deals, including

Paramount, NBCU, Disney, Fox, Google and Amazon. 

Among traditional networks, CBS led with a 6.41% share of impressions, followed by ABC (6.32%), Fox News (3.84%), Ion (2.92%), HGTV (2.5%), Univision (2.45%), CNN (2.34%), Hallmark (2.29%) and MSNBC (2.25%). 

Nearly 50% of ABC's Q3 TV ad impressions were delivered by news and talk programs, as “Good Morning America” and “ABC World News Tonight” combined for a 26% share. Quiz and giveaway shows accounted for more than over 19% of CBS TV ad impressions, but talk and news still accounted for 25% of ad impressions, and soap operas for 14%. Over 40% of NBC TV ad impressions were news- and talk-related. Reality shows contributed 15.8%, and just a month of pro and college football delivered 12.3%. 

College football led for overall TV ad impressions, with a 54.5% surge in impressions and a 2.09% share of impressions. The other overall leaders were NFL programming (2.05%), “Law & Order: SVU” (1.25%), “Good Morning America” (0.94%), “NCIS” (0.94%), “Friends” (0.93%), “Today” (0.72%), “ABC World News Tonight” (0.72%) and “House Hunters” (0.71%). 

Progressive and Domino’s were the most-seen brands on TV in the quarter, each with a 0.79% share of impressions. Other high-visibility brands included Liberty Mutual, Downy, Subway, Burger King, Verizon, Golo, Wendy’s and Chevrolet. 

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that top 10 streamers ranking represents impressions generated by streamers' own promotional ad campaigns, not impressions from advertisers on these streaming platforms.