WASHINGTON—The local commercial broadcast industry, both TV and radio, helps generate $1.17 trillion of Gross Domestic Product and 2.47 million jobs to the American economy through direct and stimulative effects, according to a new study from Woods & Poole Economics, supported by BIA Advisory Services.The broadcast industry’s impact is based on direct employment, ripple effects and as an advertising medium.
Direct employment from local commercial broadcasting, which includes jobs at local stations to advertising and programming, is estimated to be more than 318,000 across the country, with more than $53 billion annually in economic impact. Just on the TV side, that works out to more than 188,000 jobs and more than $31 billion in GDP.
One-third of those 318,000 jobs are tied to industries supporting broadcasters, like telecommunications, public utilities, manufacturing, transportation and retail trade.
The ripple effect from local broadcast is even wider, contributing more than $132 billion GDP and more than 794,000 jobs in other industries, per the report. “A job in local television and radio broadcast stations multiplies itself by helping create jobs in construction, farming, mining, state and local government and all other economic sectors,” said the study.
However, the largest impact of local broadcast is the role it plays as a forum for advertising. An estimated $988 billion in GDP and 1.36 million jobs come from local broadcast TV and radio as a result of its advertising.
In a statement regarding the Woods & Poole study, NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith said: “America’s local broadcast radio and TV stations play a unique role in every community across the country. They keep citizens informed with local news, viewers entertained with the most-watched programming and families safe with lifeline emergency information. But broadcasting plays a pivotal economic role as well, creating hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs while helping hometown small businesses reach local consumers through advertising.”
The complete study from Woods & Poole can be found here.
