CHANTILLY, Va.—BIA Advisory Services has released its forecast for U.S. local advertising in 2021, which among a growth as the industry rebounds from COVID-19 includes the emergence of OTT and Connected TV as key players in the broadcast industry’s advertising outlook.
“The OTT TV and Connected TV segment are game changers for the broadcast industry because it is now very easy to purchase fragmented inventory and do audience targeting,” said Rick Ducey, BIA managing director. “These improvements will help sellers better justify local OTT buying, and we expect local audience share gained in Q2 and Q3 of 2020 will be maintained and expanded going forward, presenting a tremendous opportunity for the industry.”
BIA reported that OTT local advertising generated $1 billion in revenue in 2020. With targeted advertising capabilities with quality video programming, BIA projects that OTT local advertising will grow to $1.2 billion in 2021.
Traditional broadcast advertising among local TV and local radio stations will still be the biggest draws for the broadcast industry, however. Local TV is estimated to bring in $15.7 billion in 2021, while local radio is estimated to net $12.6 billion.
That will put both local TV and local radio in the top five of revenue sources in BIA’s projections. The top three is rounded out by online, with an estimated $23.3 billion; mobile at $23.4 billion; and direct mail at $31.2 billion. In total, traditional media revenue will account for 55.3% of local advertising with $76.1 billion, which is actually a slight decline.
Digital media revenue will make up for that dip, according to BIA projections, earning $61.5 billion in 2021. It’s share of 44.7% of the market is an increase of 3.7% from 2020.
Overall, BIA projects that U.S. local advertising revenue across the media will hit $137.5 billion in 2021, up 2.5% from 2020, with the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine a big factor. However, BIA does not expect pre-COVID levels to return until 2022.
