*By Lauren Babbage*
Television may be going static. As the major networks present their new shows at upfronts this week, they are fighting for smaller shares of a shrinking market.
Ad sales on linear television fell 2.2 percent in 2017, according to the ad-buying firm Magna, and it estimates sales will fall at least 2 percent in each of the next four years. Advertisers are wary of old-school television's reach among the consumers they most want to reach.
"I think the name of the game is cross-platform," said David Cohen, the president of Magna. "Obviously, NBCUniversal has lots of different assets they come to the table with, both network and cable and digital."
In an interview Tuesday with Cheddar, Cohen said it is increasingly important for networks to find ways for their advertisers to move with consumers across platforms and from show to show.
Viewers are abandoning traditional TV and taking the value of the ad-sales market with them. Streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube TV are diverting ad dollars from networks like NBC and CBS by providing advertisers with the ability to target specific demographics. Digital platforms give advertisers who once dumped all their money into TV ads the ability to promote content across multiple platforms and capture the mobile-forward consumer.
Cable television lost 3.6 million viewers in 2017, and Magna predicted it could lose another 4 million viewers this year. It also said more than 20 million households will cut the cord by 2020.
The people still watching TV are valuable, for now, but they are quickly becoming less appealing to advertisers ー and shrinking. According to The New York Times, TV shows attracting the highest ad rates are also attracting an older audience, with a median age of 37-60 years old. That's less desirable going forward for brands aiming for the attention of millennials, whose spending power is estimated by Oracle to reach over $3 trillion in 2018.
"We're seeing lot of the networks, broadcast and cable, try to program themselves for the Rokus, the Amazon Fires, the Apple TVs, etc.," said Cohen. "They're going to take their content and they're going to spread it out in lots of different places."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/streaming-tv-threatens-cable-ad-revenue).
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
