• by Wayne Friedman , February 26, 2024

Total U.S. TV station advertising revenue -- core national, local advertising and digital-- is expected to climb 14% to $24.8 billion this year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence -- due to an expected increase in political advertising.

S&P says TV stations will see a 10% increase in political ad spending, reaching an estimated $3.94 billion.

Digital advertising revenues for TV stations is expected to total $3.23 billion, roughly the same as in 2021.

More traditional TV stations' advertising revenues -- national spot, local spot, and political advertising without digital -- are estimated to reach $21.157 billion -- an increase of 15.4% over 2023.

With regard to the other major part of TV stations' revenue -- retransmission revenue from pay TV providers as well as reverse retransmission revenue from TV networks -- revenues are expected to rise just 1% to $15.22 billion, pacing at the same 1% increase as the previous year (up 1% to $15.09 billion).

This is largely attributable to the continuation of widespread cord-cutting of pay TV subscriptions, now estimated as just under 80 million.

Overall TV station revenue -- including advertising and retransmission -- is expected to grow 8.3% to $40.04 billion in 2024, per S&P Global.