Despite reports that digital video will take a back seat to traditional TV this upfront, eMarketer estimates digital video will still benefit in a major way.
The research company
projects upfront digital video ad spending -- for the broadcast year running September to August -- will rise 25.4% to $3.64 billion for the 2018-2019 season.
Upfront advertising digital
video revenues are forecast to continue to climb over the next year -- adding another 21%, to hit 4.39 billion.
Traditional TV spending -- broadcast, cable, and syndication -- is projected to
rise 3% to $20.33 billion this season. A number of senior-level traditional TV networks and some analysts have also predicted slightly higher overall upfront volume.
Still, eMarketer
says total TV ad spending for 2018 will drop 0.5% to $69.87 billion -- with another 1% decline in 2019.
In 2018, the total universe of U.S. TV viewers -- pay TV and over-the-air viewers --
will also decline slightly, to 0.2%, with 297.6 million people.
In addition, this year, there will be 2.1% fewer pay TV adult viewers than in 2017 -- 192 million. The estimates for adult
viewers exclude pure-play online video services, such as Hulu, Netflix and YouTube.
That means cord-cutters will grow 22% this year, per eMarketer. There will also be 228.8 million people in
the U.S. who will watch digital video -- up 2.7% from last year.
advertisement
advertisement