War's ad losses 
more than recovered

Third week sees $76M increase in TV spending


  As expected, advertisers pulled out of television at the start of the war in Iraq, but they came back far sooner than expected, and in the third week ad revenues across broadcast and cable television were actually up by $76.1 over the same week a year earlier.
   For the full first three weeks of the war, TV advertising was up a total $70.2 million compared to the year-earlier period, according to a report from CMR/TNS Media on the impact of the war on TV ad spending.
   Going into the war some analysts were predicting that advertisers would stay off of television far longer, leading to losses of $400 million and higher, with some but not all of that coming back later in the year.
   Losses in the first week of fighting, from March 19 through March 25, were steep, amounting to $77 million.  
   But by the second week advertisers were rushing back into television, and revenues were up $71.2 million over the same period a year earlier, leaving a net loss for the two weeks of $5.8 million.
   Week three wiped out that loss entirely, leaving the networks in the plus by more than $70 million.
   Through the first three weeks of the war, the biggest losses were suffered by the cable news networks, which lost a total of $34.6 million, $17.6 million in week one, $10.8 million in week two, and $6.1 million in week three.
   The broadcast networks took the biggest hit in week one, $53.6 million, but by the second week those loses were halved to $27.5 million. By week three ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Pax, UPN and WB were once again in positive territory, showing an increase of $23.6 million over the same week a year prior and leaving them down for the full three weeks by just $2.6 million.
   Cable networks outside of the news networks were the biggest gainers for the first three weeks as advertisers moved dollars away from war coverage.
   They ended the period up $61.2 million, and they were the only medium to show gains in the first week, when they were up $9.9 million.
   Spot TV rose from a loss of $8.6 million in the first week to a gain of $29.8 million in week two and $32.1 million in week three, for a total gain of $53.4 million.
   Spanish-language network TV recorded a loss of $7.2 million for the first three weeks of the war versus the same period a year earlier.
      Ad revenue gains and losses over three weeks
$s in millions

REVENUE LOSS/GAIN

by Media (estimates)

1st Week

 

3/19

Wed

3/20

Thurs

3/21

Fri

3/22

Sat

3/23

Sun

3/24

Mon

3/25

Tues

Network TV

-53,596

-10,127

-22,366

-14,550

-732

485

-4,165

-2,141

Cable News

-17,624

-1,325

-3,656

-3,261

-2,320

-2,787

-2,696

-1,579

Cable Other

9,916

1,410

97

-361

709

1,899

2,230

3,933

Spot TV

-8,560

-3,234

-12,439

-6,649

4,363

3,807

2,415

3,178

Spanish Language Network TV

-7,149

-945

-2,914

-1,842

-552

260

-762

-394

Total of Week 1

-77,013

-14,221

-41,278

-26,663

1,466

3,664

-2,977

2,996

REVENUE LOSS/GAIN
by Media (estimates)

2nd Week

3/26
Wed

3/27
Thurs

3/28
Fri

3/29
Sat

3/30
Sun

3/31
Mon

4/1
Tues

Network TV

27,501

699

1,528

4,269

6,580

9,968

1,620

2,837

Cable News

-10,848

-2,200

-1,957

-1,687

-1,659

-1,286

-1,230

-829

Cable Other

23,271

3,139

2,709

3,836

2,180

3,380

2,991

5,036

Spot TV

29,816

3,379

3,167

3,411

5,676

5,690

4,661

3,833

Spanish Language Network TV

1,429

-182

872

651

329

521

-481

-281

Total of Week 2

71,169

4,833

6,319

10,480

13,106

18,273

7,561

10,596

REVENUE LOSS/GAIN
by Media (estimates)

3rd Week

4/2
Wed

4/3
Thurs

4/4
Fri

4/5
Sat

4/6
Sun

4/7
Mon

4/8
Tues

Network TV

23,538

4,255

2,726

5,790

3,873

10,263

-3,948

579

Cable News

-6,095

-784

-996

-859

-676

-1,148

-789

-843

Cable Other

28,034

5,214

3,702

4,135

4,153

3,566

3,385

3,879

Spot TV

32,125

3,876

2,101

3,035

6,647

5,048

6,021

5,396

Spanish Language Network TV

-1,510

-315

-1,095

-255

228

22

-225

130

Total of Week 3

76,092

12,246

6,438

11,846

14,225

17,752

4,444

9,141

First 3 weeks totals

REVENUE LOSS/GAIN
by Media (estimates)

Cum

Wed

Thurs

Fri

Sat

Sun

Mon

Tues

Network TV

-2,557

-5,173

-18,113

-4,490

9,721

20,716

-6,492

1,275

Cable News

-34,567

-4,309

-6,609

-5,806

-4,655

-5,221

-4,715

-3,251

Cable Other

61,220

9,763

6,508

7,609

7,042

8,845

8,606

12,848

Spot TV

53,381

4,021

-7,171

-204

16,685

14,545

13,098

12,407

Spanish Language Net TV

-7,230

-1,442

-3,137

-1,446

5

803

-1,468

-545

First 3 weeks of the Iraq War

70,247

2,858

-28,522

-4,337

28,797

39,689

9,027

22,734

Source: CMR
Note: Dollar estimates are presented in $(000). Figures are based on comparison of data from 3/20/02-3/26/02 and 3/19/03-3/25/03 for Week 1 of Iraq War; 3/27/02-4/2/02 and 3/26/03-4/1/03 for Week 2 of Iraq War; and 4/3/02-4/9/02 and 4/2/03-4/8/03 for Week 3 of Iraq War.








April 24, 2003© 2003 Media Life


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