• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 9 hours ago

Core local TV advertising spend, excluding political, of all types -- over the air, local CTV, and cable -- is expected to dip 1% to $19.4 billion, according to estimates from BIA Advisory Services.

This is mainly due to a decline in over-the-air TV ad spend by 2% to $13.7 billion. Local cable ad spend will also drop -- 9% to $2.0 billion.

The only growth will be seen in connected TV (CTV) -- at $3.6 billion, 9% higher than in 2025.

Adding in political ad spend, CTV will jump by nearly 35% next year to $4.6 billion.

That means CTV will command a nearly 19% share of local TV ad spend from 2025. The biggest share still goes to over-the-air TV, landing at $17.7 billion -- a 69% share.

TV will climb 24% next year, mostly due to the mid-term political advertising season from $14.3 billion the previous year.

BIA sees local TV focused sellers continuing to make gains when selling broad packages of over the air TV, CTV, and website digital video to “unlock larger budgets.”

More local TV inventory overall will contribute to this -- which includes growing FAST channels and programmatic buying platforms. “As local audiences move to streaming, CTV/OTT is becoming essential for advertisers seeking targeted reach and performance.”

Overall local TV ad spend (over the air, CTV, and cable) when including political advertising -- will climb 24% to $24.7 billion.

Th overall boost from political advertising is expected to be $5.3 billion, roughly the same according to estimates for the 2024 Presidential political year. One billion dollars is projected to go for CTV.