TV Ads in Flux: $60B in Limbo

Viewers are increasingly ditching broadcast entertainment for streaming, Nielsen is being challenged as the default for metrics and tech giants are siphoning ad dollars once spent on linear television , but that doesn’t mean TV ads are dead.

“The upfront was historic,” Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said Sept. 14 during a Bank of America conference, calling the market “tremendously strong.” Discovery touted its “most successful upfront ever,” and NBCUniversal trumpeted double-digit pricing and volume growth. But the endless superlatives obscure a business in transition as consumers and companies shift from linear television to streaming. Then there’s the measurement fiasco: the networks’ war with Nielsen, which has provided TV ad currency metrics for 60 years.

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