Advertising revenue should be stable for media companies in 2025 – if they have sports.

Awards shows such as sports and live events reigned supreme in conversations with media executives who weighed in on their expectations for the advertising market in the coming year. He said the end of uncertainty surrounding the elections has also helped improve the outlook.

And despite consumers fleeing traditional TV bundles, with more ad dollars moving toward streaming, executives emphasized that traditional TV is still important in conversations with advertisers, especially when it comes to sports. Be of

Overall, executives said they expect the market to stabilize and hope to ride out the slowdown in ad spending in recent years.

“It’s the right way to publicize it with the advertising market,” said Marc Marshall, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships. “Once the election is over, many companies feel the uncertainty is over.”

He added that the company saw more so-called scatter market budgets during the fourth quarter, which the industry calls the buying and selling of ads compared to their airdates, which are bought ahead of time. go

Sports CEO Dan Porter said, “Our first quarter is looking really strong. I think the fourth quarter of any election year is tough for anybody because a lot of marketers are sitting on their hands. Live because the airwaves and digital are crowded,” said Sports CEO Dan Porter. Media company overtime. “I think that’s true for us and it’s true for everybody.”

Yet despite the increase in ad revenue after the election and the stabilization of the forecast, Natalie Bastian, global chief marketing officer of Teds, said she expects many of the same trends.

Bastian noted that 2024 included key moments like the Summer Olympics and the presidential election, which boosted TV ad revenue. However, she expects the same budget to continue into the new year.

“What we’ve heard from some of our closest partners in general … is that media budgets aren’t increasing, and so there’s more choice in where. [advertisers are] spending their money,” Bastian said. This makes sports and live programming even more important to media companies.

Overall, the global advertising industry is expected to exceed $1 trillion in gross revenue this year for the first time, excluding American political advertisingand will grow 7.7 percent to $1.1 trillion in 2025, according to a Recent report From Group M, WPP’s media investment group. Advertising on digital platforms – including Retail media As a segment – that’s what’s driving this growth.

TV, considered “the most effective form of advertising,” will grow nearly 2 percent to $169.1 billion in total global advertising revenue in 2025. In comparison, according to Group M, advertising revenue for “pure play digital”, which excludes “digital extensions of traditional media” such as streaming, but includes platforms such as YouTube and TikTok , is expected to grow 10 percent globally to $813.3 billion in 2025. .

Sports continue to attract large audiences and advertisers, leading to media companies. Pay huge amount For sports rights.

According to EDO, an advertising data company, commercials during live sports generated 24 percent more engagement than other programming.

“Live event coverage will continue to be a cornerstone of media engagement, and streaming services must step up their game,” said Tim Hurd, vice president of media at Goodway Group. “As most streaming platforms Immerse yourself in sportsthe challenge will be to engage viewers, not just by delivering content, but by enhancing the overall experience with personalized, non-intrusive ad units.”

ComcastKNBC Universal said Summer Olympics Paris generated a record $1.2 billion in ad revenue. It seemed that paidthe company is reporting a total audience delivery of more than 30 million people across NBC’s TV and streaming platforms.

Fox Corporation Executives have said the company has already sold Super Bowl ads for this coming February. Allegedly Each cost about $7 million. There was one in the 2024 Super Bowl. Estimated 123.7 million viewers.

And Disney said it sold ads two weeks before the Christmas Day NBA games aired. The company added that it is “significantly accelerating” when it comes to ad revenue for the entire NBA season compared to last year, and that the postseason is “already in the early stages” in a fragmented market. Movement has been observed”.

Audiences for women’s sports, particularly driven by the WNBA, also grew last year, meaning more opportunities for advertisers.

“It’s ahead of Caitlin Clark, even though she’s a massive catalyst,” said Josh Mattison, Disney Advertising’s executive vice president of digital revenue pricing, planning and operations. “It was a transformative year in terms of audience.”

WNBA audience hits one Record According to EDO, in 2024, and consumers are 16% more likely to engage with ads during these games than last year. But while advertisers spent $8.5 billion on sports TV ads in 2024, women’s sports made up just 3 percent of that number, according to EDO, leaving plenty of room for growth next year.

The growing popularity of women’s sports and its importance to media companies was evident this month when Netflix Acquired the US rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031. The streaming giant is adding to its sports portfolio, as are its peers in the legacy and digital media spaces.

While there are users. Cut the cord And with streaming services now snapping up sports rights, linear TV audiences still outpace streaming significantly.

“Linear TV is still lacking in many markets, but not all,” said Cat Scott Dawkins, global president of business intelligence at Group MK. There are so many opportunities and hopefully a new appreciation for how effective it can be as a medium. [for advertisers]”

Amy Leffer, chief ad sales officer for Direct TV Advertising, said the company predicts continued growth in programmatic ad spending, or automated digital ad buying, in streaming.

“Despite the shift to streaming, linear TV still holds a significant advantage in terms of ad impressions, generating six times more than streaming,” Leffer said.

Executives said they are talking with advertisers about how to look at linear and streaming together when allocating ad dollars.

Leffer said the mantra of direct TV advertising is that “TV is TV,” regardless of the distribution method. “Our focus for 2025 is to integrate digital and linear television advertising by taking a holistic approach and developing converged TV solutions,” he added.

NBC Universal’s Marshall and Disney’s Mattison both said that advertisers tended to focus on linear “versus” streaming. This is no longer the case.

“The pitch [we made to advertisers] Last year you couldn’t really see one in comparison to the other. When it’s brought into one platform, how do you see digital and linear together. It’s made a huge difference,” Marshall said, noting that older audiences are more present on linear TV, while younger generations have gravitated to streaming.

Marshall said NBCUniversal’s Peacock is “not cannibalizing the line,” because there is little overlap between the content on the two distribution outlets. “It’s actually two separate, different audiences,” Marshall said.

Mattison noted that Disney’s broad sports portfolio and its various platforms in linear and streaming, including TV networks such as ABC and ESPN, and streaming service ESPN+, whose content is being added to Disney+, are an advantage. is

“Agreed [of the streaming apps] “It’s really good for consumers, which leads to growth for advertisers,” he said. able to maximize.”

“Maybe a few years ago it was linear versus streaming. I think now it’s linear versus streaming,” Mattison continued. “They’re kind of scheming. That’s true from both the media and the advertiser side.”

Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics holds the U.S. broadcast rights to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.