• by David Goetzl , November 2, 2011

Time Warner said Wednesday that even with weaker ratings than expected at TNT and TBS, the company’s entertainment networks -- including Cartoon Network and Adult Swim -- posted domestic ad revenue growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range in the third quarter.

That’s in line with the 6% domestic ad growth Discovery reported on Tuesday. Time Warner, however, said that its CNN and HLN businesses did better, with growth in the high single digits.

So far this season, by one measure, ratings in the 18-to-49 demo are down 28% at TNT and 8% at TBS. CNN is up 19% in its key demo.

The company said on an earnings call that the current scatter market is drawing increases over upfront pricing in the high single to low-double-digit ranges.

CEO Jeff Bewkes said, however, that Turner is not particularly active in the scatter market, with not a lot of inventory to be sold. He said it’s “still an open question” whether some of the strength in last summer’s upfront was due to clients moving scatter dollars into that market rather than risking higher pricing going forward. 

Like Discovery on Wednesday, Bewkes said there have been hardly any cancellations on spending commitments for early next year.  

Bewkes touted the success of the Warner Bros. studio’s TV operations in delivering a group of successful shows such as the Ashton Kutcher-altered “Two and a Half Men” and CBS’s new comedy “2 Broke Girls.”

“For all the change in the TV business in the last decade, the holy grail of TV production is still a hit 30-minute comedy,” Bewkes said. “Not only do successful comedies fetch substantial prices in syndication, they can run for multiple cycles and become multibillion-dollar annuities. And we've got 4 of the top 7 on all of television.”

Bewkes said Turner is beginning to benefit from more favorable carriage deals with affiliates helped by its investment to acquire rights to the NCAA basketball tournament, which will make the massive deal profitable.

For the Time Inc. publishing group, Time Warner reported a 3% decline in ad dollars, although some of that was due to transferring control of SI.com and Golf.com to the Turner group.