[eMarketer] TV ad prices to rise this year

Several forces are driving up costs per thousand (CPMs) on both linear and connected TV (CTV). On the linear side, audience levels have dropped at a faster rate than ad spending, so more dollars are chasing fewer viewers.

Nearly all (94%) of US linear ad impressions were served to just 55% of TV viewers in Q1 2022, according to Samba TV. Put another way, nearly half of viewers—who might be characterized as light viewers—saw only 6% of all linear ads that quarter.

According to a survey of more than 500 US ad industry professionals in H2 2021 by Cross Screen Media, 51% of buyers and 58% of sellers said they expected broadcast TV ad rates to increase in 2022 compared with 2021.

eMarketer says that responses for CTV were much higher, with 79% of buyers and 78% of sellers expecting increases. For cable TV, 48% of buyers and 61% of sellers anticipated increases, far more than those who expected rates to stay the same or decrease.

Prior to this season’s upfronts, Erin Firneno, vice president of business intelligence operations at Advertiser Perceptions, said she didn’t envision a big change in the percentage of budgets that advertisers allocate to upfronts compared with scatter. However, she added, “We will most likely be seeing moderately higher prices in the scatter market this year.”

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