‘House Hunters’ boosted airings–and ad impresions (Image credit: HGTV)
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Source: www.nexttv.com, January 2024


With ratings down broadcast and cable networks aired more commercials

Household TV ad impressions rose 1.8% to 8.5 trillion, but spending on national linear TV fell 4.7% to $43.71 billion, according to iSpot.TV.

In its TV Transparency Report for 2023, said the increase in impressions was the result of more streaming commercials and linear networks adding more commercials per hour.

After years of trying to address advertiser complaints about clutter by reducing ad loads, the Big 4 broadcast networks aired 2.9% more minutes of ads during primetime in 2023, iSpot said.

With ratings eroding NBC’s commercial load was up 4.71%, Fox was up 4.45%, CBS rose1.74% and ABC increased 1.09%.

Most subscription streaming services are promising to air five minute of commercials or less per hour on the ad-supported tiers.

CBS had the biggest share of ad impressions–7.24%–among linear networks.

ABC was No. 2, followed by NBC, Fox News, Ion, ESPN, Fox, HGTV, Hallmark Channel and Univision.

Ad impressions for Spanish-language networks jumped in 2023, with Univision up 21%, Telemundo up 18.5% and UniMas gaining 23.1%. Telemundo’s gain came despite decreasing ad minutes by 2%.

The number of advertisers on Spanish language TV grew by 27%.

In terms of programming, the NFL had the largest share of impressions, followed by college football, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the NBA, Good Morning AmericaNCIS, college basketball, Today and SportsCenter.

NFL impressions grew 7.9% and college football impressions hiked 20.3%.

iSpot noted that HGTV’s House Hunters increased ad impressions by 154% as more new and old episodes aired.

The brands with the most impressions were Progressive, Domino’s, Liberty Mutual, Verizon and Burger King.

“While national linear TV was once the only story of TV, it’s now part of a much larger puzzle, along with streaming and local,” the iSpot report said.

“In 2023, iSpot found that more than 35.2K brands appeared on TV, with many not appearing on linear at all. Increasing fragmentation of audiences has fragmented advertisers as well, and necessitated a more unified approach to remove blindspots from all aspects of TV measurement, the measurement company said.


Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeekCable WorldElectronic MediaAdvertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.