• by Wayne Friedman , November 7, 2016

Eighteen TV station groups amassed more than 80% of $31 billion in revenue in 2016, coming from over-the-air and online advertising revenue, retransmission consent and other revenue.

BIA/Kelsey says traditional linear local TV spot advertising will pull in the most revenue at 67.4% -- $20.8 billion -- while retrans consent takes a 23.6% share ($7.3 billion); digital media, a 4.1% share ($1.3 billion); and other revenue, 4.9% ($1.5 billion).

Recently, BIA/Kelsey estimated for 2017, traditional linear TV ad revenues will decline to $19.7 billion from the $20.8 billion expected total for 2016.

The $31 billion revenue in 2016 breaks down this way: 31.9% coming from six public companies ($9.9 billion); 30%, the four major owned-and-operated stations -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC ($9.3 billion); 21.4% from eight large private companies ($6.6 billion); and 16.7% from other companies ($5.2 billion).

The four owned-and-operated stations are expected to generate $6.1 billion in traditional over-the-air advertising revenue. For the six publicly traded broadcasters, this totals $6.4 billion in TV ad revenue; and for the eight large privately held companies, $4.2 billion in television ad revenue.

BIA/Kelsey puts a valuation on the entire TV industry of $84 billion.

The 18 groups comprise the four owned big broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC), the six large publicly traded groups (Nexstar, Sinclair, Tegna, Gray, Meredith and Tribune) and eight large private groups (Hearst, Univision, Raycom, E.W. Scripps, Cox Media, Hubbard, Cordillera and Quincy).