Summer Viewing Just 2% Below Other Seasonal TV Periods, Advertisers Still Spend Less

Even with the prospect of a recession -- and summer’s expected lower linear TV viewership -- one study says major advertisers should maintain their TV campaigns during the summer season, which could boost their “share of voice” by up to 36%.

Total TV summer viewing -- linear TV, streaming and video demand-percentage change in summer viewing is just 2% below the rest of the year, says Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable.

But at the same time there are 9% fewer “advertisers on air” during the summer. Effectv found nearly one in 10 advertisers choose to go dark in the summer months.

Data results here is aggregated viewership data combined with ad exposure data -- June through August 2022 -- versus the other nine months 2022 for ad-supported TV, streaming and video on demand.

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This comes from ad logs of 6,300 advertisers who were on the air from March to May and dropped advertising in the summer.

In particular, in 2022, Effectv says political, travel, and event marketers who stayed on the air witnessed their “share of voice” gain 26%, 61%, and 78% respectively. This comes from ad logs of 4,300 marketers who stayed on the air in the summer -- from June through August versus non-summer months (January through May, and September through December.)

“Data shows that TV viewing remains relatively flat into the summer, but a disproportionate number of advertisers pull back on their campaigns unnecessarily,” says Travis Flood, executive director of insights, Comcast Advertising.

Traditional analysis, says Flood, focused on the major TV networks' emphasis on reruns of dramas and comedies series. But increasingly there is now more original high viewing content. This includes NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”, as well as an array of game shows and other reality competitions now flood the TV network airwaves.

1 comment about "Summer Viewing Just 2% Below Other Seasonal TV Periods, Advertisers Still Spend Less".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, June 5, 2023 at 8:43 a.m.

    Wayne, advertisers don't decide whether to advertise based on how much "audience" is available at a given time or from a particular media  seller. Their decisions are based on their own perceived needs. For example, TV set usage was always highest during the cold winter months---especially January and February, yet ad spending was traditionally low during the first five or six weeks after New Year's Day because many brands budgeted media spend on a calendar year basis  and ---except for new brand positioning campaigns or new product launches---they usually preferred not to peak their ad dollar spending at the very outset of the year. In like manner, in the past---pre-cable---when summer viewing declined by about 20-25% compared to the winter highs, ad activity didn't simply follow the ratings. One factor was the reduced CPMs offered by sellers for summer TV buys on lower rated rerun fare. You could get the same number of GRPs by spending less.

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