• by Wayne Friedman , August 4, 2015

Ad market softness and general audience under-delivery issues contributed to weak advertising sales growth in the second quarter at Scripps Networks Interactive.

Advertising revenue climbed 1.4% to $496.9 million -- a bit better than some forecasts. Todd Juenger, senior analyst of Bernstein Research, had expected a 0.5% hike. Still, he says, overall “TV advertising demand is decidedly decelerating.”

On the other side, affiliate revenue improved 8.7% to $203.4 million. This was up from the 4% gain in affiliate revenue in the first quarter.

Bernstein Research, through Nielsen rating analysis, says Scripps' two big networks went in the opposite direction in Q2 ratings.

HGTV witnessed a 14% gain among 18-49 prime-time viewers when looking at C3 ratings, the average commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing, while Food Network lost 8%. For all its networks, Scripps was flat in prime-time 18-49 ratings for the period.

Overall, company-wide revenues were up 3.4% to $732.1 million for Scripps in the period. HGTV gained 10.2% to $271.8 million and Food Network slipped 4.2% to $228.1 million. Scripps second-quarter 2015 income improved 19.7% to $246.2 million.

Scripps’ stock was up 2.2% to $63.99 in mid-day Tuesday trading.