Advisory firm BIA/Kelsey is anticipating local TV revenue will total $31 billion in 2016, comprising over-the-air and online advertising, retransmission consent and other revenues.
The firm examined 18 station groups for its study: four owned & operated groups, six publicly traded groups and eight privately held TV broadcasters, all of which combined to account for more than 80 percent of total revenue in the industry.
Of the $31 billion revenue total, BIA/Kelsey says the four O&Os are expected to generate $6.1 billion in gross over-the-air (OTA) television advertising revenue and $9.3 billion in television station gross revenue, compared to $6.4 billion in OTA ad television revenue and $9.9 billion in gross TV revenue for the six publicly traded broadcasters profiled and $4.2 billion in OTA TV revenue and $6.6 billion in gross TV revenue for the eight large privately held groups.
“It’s incredible that 18 groups that represent just over 50 percent of the number of commercial stations earn over 80 percent of the revenue for the entire industry,” said Tom Buono, CEO of BIA/Kelsey, in a statement. “These 18 groups, competing against each other in the local markets, generate a large share of the total local television station industry revenue through the operation of strong affiliates in these local markets.”
The TV groups combined are expected to generate $6.5 billion in retransmission consent revenue and over $1.1 billion will come from online/digital activities.