Global TV Advertising Market to hit USD 111.25B by 2029 growing at 1.7% CAGR. Explore trends, drivers, and competition for strategic insights with The Business Research Company.

Television advertising spending in the United States was projected to amount to 60.38 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, marking a decrease compared to the previous year. Spending was expected to continue decreasing over the next few years, before reaching an expected 54.74 billion in 2027.

TV advertising landscape in the U.S.

Television remains a leading source of news and entertainment throughout the United States. Even though the internet has long overtaken TV as the most invested-in advertising medium in the U.S., companies of all sizes still count on the power of (linear) television for marketing purposes. During the 2020-21 TV broadcast season, for example, brands were willing to pay nearly 800 thousand U.S. dollars for a 30-second spot during NBC’s Sunday Night Football, and even for not-sports-related programs, media buyers dig deep into their pockets.

Reinventing TV advertising one match at a time

In 2020, Procter & Gamble Co. was the largest advertiser on U.S. network television, with more than 900 million U.S. dollars in annual investments. The CPG giant that owns some of the world’s most popular cleaning and personal care brands, such as Braun, Gillette, and Pantene, has been a mainstay of the U.S. advertising scene for many decades. In 2021, the company reinvented its ad strategy by asking consumers to co-create a commercial via an interactive website. The 60-second spot that premiered during the Super Bowl (the biggest advertising event of the year) featured numerous P&G brands, characters such as Charmin’s Ultra Strong Bear, and celebrities such as Sofia Vergara.

It was expected that TV advertising revenue in the United States would grow from 72.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2023 to 74.1 billion in 2027. Short history of TV commercials   Today, U.S. broadcast TV could not exist without advertising. It all began on July 1, 1941, when the first ever TV commercial aired on WBNT which belonged to NBC. Bulova, a watch manufacturer, paid a whopping nine U.S. dollars to have the 10-second-long commercial viewed by the four thousand TV households in New York that day. And so, the ‘America runs on Bulova’ ad made it into the history books. In the 1950s single sponsor programming was introduced, where a brand paid for an entire program and used that as a promotional vehicle. A decade later the previous format faded in favor of commercial breaks and multiple advertisers had their commercials aired in the short slot interrupting TV programs. Nowadays, it is argued that TV programming is being replaced by advertising time and many viewers indicate a willingness to pay more for commercial-free television. Prominent TV advertising seasons
While TV commercials are with us every day, there are certain periods when advertisers double their efforts and investments in order to gain higher exposure. These periods are extremely lucrative to the industry, as ad revenues soar at that time and millions of dollars are generated during major sporting events like Super Bowl, or award ceremonies such as the Oscars or Grammys.

In 2021, TV advertising spending in North America amounted to nearly 64.7 billion U.S. dollars. This figure represented a drop of about one percent compared to 2020, and according to the latest forecasts, spending on TV ads will likely plateau at this level.

TV advertising trends Television remains one of the most popular and effective advertising channels worldwide. Despite the ongoing digitalization of the advertising world and the proliferation of online streaming services, marketers still embrace the power of linear television. In North America, the largest TV ad region worldwide, spending on TV promotion has not fallen below the 60-billion-dollar mark since 2011. As the TV penetration rate in the United States and many other markets continues to decline, however, internet ads have overtaken TV as the leading advertising medium.

Most expensive TV slots While audiences are exposed to advertising messages on a daily basis, airtimes during top-rated TV shows, sports events, and awards ceremonies are particularly popular among advertisers. In the United States, NBC Sunday Night Football was the most expensive show for advertisers on broadcast TV during the 2020/21 season. The average price for a 30-second spot during the show stood at over 783 thousand U.S. dollars, while the cost of a Super Bowl commercial has now hit a record 5.6 million U.S. dollars, respectively.

According to the most recent market calculations, U.S. advertisers spent roughly 2.14 billion U.S. dollars on addressable TV ads in 2020. They are further expected to increase their spending by some two billion dollars by the end of 2023.

What is addressable TV advertising?

Linear addressable TV advertising is a way of delivering selected ads to individual households via cable, satellite, and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) delivery systems and set-top boxes. Unlike traditional TV commercials that are mainly displayed based on a program’s content, airtime, and a household’s geographical area, addressable ads enable marketers to target audiences much more effectively with the help of first-, second-, and third-party consumer data. A data-driven segmentation of households allows brands to tailor and deliver relevant marketing messages on a home-by-home basis, thereby boosting consumer awareness and sales figures alike.

TV advertising landscape in the U.S.

Even though investments in linear addressable TV advertising are ramping up, overall TV advertising spending in the U.S. is expected to plateau at just below 70 billion U.S. dollars in the following years. Television remains one of the most popular advertising mediums worldwide, but thanks to the ongoing proliferation of streaming services and other non-linear video entertainment formats, companies are no longer placing all their bets and ad dollars on traditional TV promotion. Meanwhile, the growing number of cord-cutting households in the U.S. also continues to challenge TV networks and advertisers more substantially each year.

In 2024, TV advertising spending worldwide was forecast to reach an estimated 167.44 billion U.S. dollars, marking an increase from the previous year's value of 164.83 billion.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity: Advertising Space and Time Sales: Television Advertising Time Sales (WPS3621) from Jun 2009 to Feb 2025 about television, advertisement, sales, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The advertising spending of free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) in the United States was expected to more than double between 2023 and 2025, surpassing that of cable, broadcast, and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) by the latter year. In addition to that, spending on streaming overall (FAST and SVOD) was projected to overtake that of linear TV (cable and broadcast) by 2025.

In 2023, global TV Advertising spending accounted for an estimated 23.4 percent of global ad revenues. The share of television in global advertising expenditure has been steadily decreasing over the past years, down from 39.1 percent in 2014.

The summary statistics by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) which include: operating revenue (dollars x 1,000,000), operating expenses (dollars x 1,000,000), salaries wages and benefits (dollars x 1,000,000), and operating profit margin (by percent), of all NAICS under advertising, public relations, and related services (NAICS 5418), annual, for five years of data.

In 2021, life and entertainment was the industry with the highest TV advertising spending in the United States, reaching 10.1 billion U.S. dollars. Pharmaceutical and medical ranked second, with a spend of 5.6 billion, while food and beverage rounding out the top three with ad spend of 4.5 billion.

In 2022, TV advertising spending in the MENA region is expected to amounted to over 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, while in Asia Pacific ad expenditures on TV summed up to around 54.2 billion dollars in the same period. North America is forecast to remain the region with the highest TV ad spend in that year.

In 2023, television advertising revenue including broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) was worth approximately 4.9 billion British pounds in the United Kingdom (UK). 2023 followed the general trend of negative growth visible since 2017; the growth recorded in 2021 was a reaction of advertisers to the disappearance of corona-related constraints.

Ad industry has recovered from COVID-19 shock
The impact of the pandemic was clearly visible in advertising revenues of most media still in 2021. By 2022, most ad channels had recovered and the growth rates went back to their pre-COVID-19 trajectories. In 2023, cinema is expeced to be the fastest growing traditional ad medium in the UK, whereas among digital formats, digital out-of-home is projected to record the highest growth rate.

Advertising agencies

Advertising agencies are in charge of taking an aim or idea of a client and creating a campaign. With the growth in digital advertising spending and multi-platform campaigns, advertising agencies have had to evolve very quickly with the times. Market data show that Manning Gottlieb OMD (part of the Omnicom Media Group), was the leading agency in the UK in 2021, with new business value of 546 million U.S. dollars.

Pharmaceutical houses & general practitioners led in television advertising spending in 2023 in the United States with 6.21 billion U.S. dollars. Out of the largest spenders considered, vitamin preparation producers ranked last, spending only 0.8 billion U.S. dollars. Find further statistics regarding the U.S. advertising market like ad spending of public and private telephone companies and ad spending of cable television stations.

GEICO ranked as the leading TV advertiser in the United States as of September 29, 2023. Over the previous seven days, roughly 11.86 million dollars were invested in television ads to promote GEICO's products and services. In the same period, AT&T Wireless spent around 10.66 million U.S. dollars on TV advertising.

TV advertising in the United States Advertisers in the U.S. strive to make their promotional efforts memorable and unique, and each week new creatives are popping up on TV. Throughout the year, spending on new commercials oscillates between lows of 107 million U.S. dollars and highs of 548 million. However, the peak periods for advertising creativity happen around the Super Bowl season. Not only are the commercials expensive, with the cost of a 30-second spot valued at 6.5 million U.S. dollars in 2022, but brands heavily invest in exceptional new ads to win the Super Bowl of advertising in a bid to create the most unforgettable ad. Many of these ads prove successful with fans – Super Bowl viewers will long remember Budweiser’s Clydesdale puppy love, Mountain Dew’s Puppy Monkey Baby, Volkswagen’s The Force, or Snickers’ Betty White.

In 2020, 1.54 billion U.S. dollars were invested in TV advertising in Mexico. By 2025, TV advertising spending in the country is expected to reach 1.84 billion U.S. dollars.

As of September 2024, approximately 43 percent of adults surveyed in the United States said they had seen or heard a social media advertisement that caused them to buy a product, while 43 percent reported watching a TV commercial that led them to make a purchase. However, the shares varied depending on the interviewees' age group. Around 62 percent of Gen Zers shopped after seeing a social ad, while 47 percent of Gen Xers did so after watching a TV commercial.

In December 2024, TV advertising in Germany generated revenues of roughly 1.77 billion euros, an decrease ocompared to the previous month. The highest revenues were generally recorded in the months leading up to Christmas.

Television advertising expenditure in Kazakhstan was measured at over 26 billion Kazakhstani tenge in the first three quarters of 2024. In 2022, the highest television advertising expenditure was observed, at over 35 billion Kazakhstani tenge. TV was the second-leading advertising channel in the country.

In 2022, total TV advertising spending in the United Kingdom reached 5.38 billion British pounds, out of which roughly 845.3 million was attributed to broadcaster video-on-demand advertising. TV ad spend is expected to decrease by two percent in 2023, while BVOD is forecast to grow by 3.6 percent that year.