TV Ads Not Hurting Quite as Bad as Feared, S&P Says

Advertising spending in 2020 will likely be down 9.4% and rebound 10.3% next year, S&P reported Tuesday, amending its previous forecasts of 12.4% and 14.2%, respectively. TV ads are doing better than expected, with national advertising not down as steeply as previously feared due to the pandemic, and it's improving quickly with the return of sports programming, the firm said. Local TV ad declines were steep year over year in Q2, in some cases more than 30%, and Q3 has seen steady improvement due to what will likely be record political commercials, it said. Out-of-home entertainment such as movie theaters likely won't recover until a COVID-19 vaccine is broadly available, which could be mid-2021, S&P said.