• by Wayne Friedman , April 14, 2023

A maturing streaming industry and possible recessionary concerns have driven a sharp slowdown in platforms’ national TV marketing -- with paid advertising and media value nearly half the total for the first three months of the year vs. a year ago, according to estimates from iSpot.tv.

National TV paid advertising spend for video streaming was projected at $291.6 million through April 13 of this year, according to the TV advertising research company -- versus $557.3 million for the first three months of the year in 2022.

In addition, media value from national TV messaging by streamers on sister linear TV networks also has slowed -- to a projected $234.9 million, versus $400.6 million in 2022.

To an extent, this has been fueled by analysts continuing to forecast a recessionary economy coming later this year -- as streamers make their own declarations about moderating or lowering content acquisitions and production costs.

One example comes from Warner Bros. Discovery’s discovery+, which was at 6.7 billion impressions a year ago and is now at 327.1 million this year. It had 1,612 airings -- largely on Discovery-owned networks -- down from 9,466 a year ago.

Warner Bros. Discovery has scaled back on streaming costs, including trimming company-wide jobs. 

So far this year, Paramount+ has been the most active individual streamer, resulting in overall impressions of 9.4 billion. Hulu is a distant second at 5.5 billion, followed by Disney+ with 5.2 billion, Amazon Prime Video at 4.3 billion, and Pluto TV with 3.4 billion.

Paramount+, Hulu, Disney+ and Pluto TV all benefit from strong sister linear TV network partners that provide media value from on-air promo messaging.

The biggest paid national TV spenders this year so far are Amazon Prime Video at $54.1 million, followed by Apple TV+ at $33.0 million, Paramount+ with $30.2 million, Disney+ at $28.9 million, and NFL+ with $24.1 million.

A year ago, Disney+ topped the list of paid spenders at a massive $102.6 million; followed by Amazon Prime Video at $84.6 million; Apple TV+ with $80.5 million; and DirecTV Stream, a virtual pay TV provider, at $61.2 million.

There have been an estimated 237,059 national TV airings versus this year, with total impressions at 48 billion. A year ago, the total was 274,068 airings and 62.5 billion impressions.