• by Wayne Friedman , July 12, 2013

Sinking broadcast ratings and a mediocre scatter market caused broadcast prime-time commercial prices to sink by nearly 10% in the first quarter this year.

The average prime-time broadcast 30-second commercial price sank 9% to $102,983 in the first three months of this year, down from $112,873 from the same period a year ago, according to media agency TargetCast tcm, using data from research firm SQAD’s NetCosts service.

Fox was at the top for all networks with $172,139, followed by CBS at $116,122; ABC at $106,577; and NBC at $62,890. TargetCast says the sharp drop among broadcast networks breaks a nearly three-year span, when unit costs were either up or virtually flat.

By contrast, ad-supported cable networks continue to be relatively flat -- with the average 30-second commercial of top 15 cable networks in prime time at $14,865. TargetCast said this was up very slightly versus the same period in 2012.

ESPN was the top cable network, $38,943; TNT was next at $21,679. The flat pricing, says TargetCast, was also due to a weak scatter market -- a period when cable networks generally get a higher percentage of their revenues in scatter versus broadcast networks.
 
Cable networks, like broadcast networks, continue to see more rating erosion -- but not as severe. In the fourth quarter, the top 15 networks' adult 25-54 viewers were down 2%. Growing fragmentation from small networks and overall cable network competition are the reasons .