LOCAL AD REVENUES PROJECTED UP FOR 2024

Local advertising revenues are projected to grow 8.6% next year, reaching over $175 billion—largely thanks to political spending during the presidential election year.  (Even with political spending removed, an increase is still forecast.)  Traditional media will represent most of 2024 spending, with OTA expected to increase by 30% and Cable projected to go up nearly 20%.  Noteworthy: A slowdown in Digital growth is foreseen, with Meta, Alphabet and others already having reduced their revenue expectations throughout 2023. (BIA Advisory Services: Oct 23, 2023)

STRONG HALLOWEEN SALES COULD BE A POSITIVE SIGN FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Actual sales data have yet to be released, but the National Retail Federation estimates that consumers spent a record $12 billion on Halloween this year, beating last year’s record of $10.6 billion.  This bodes well for the winter holidays, even though Halloween represents a narrower consumer base and much lower spending overall.  A lot can happen between Halloween and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but there are some encouraging factors: Consistently high home values and the slowing of inflation have boosted consumer confidence, and early sales may have already swayed some customers to begin their shopping in advance. (Forbes: Oct 31, 2023)

HOLIDAY SALES AREN’T THE ONLY THING STARTING EARLY

NBC has announced that it will begin its broadcast of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade a half-hour earlier than before, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.  The show will end at noon as usual, so the extra half-hour of programming will allow for additional advertising opportunities.  No word on whether Santa Claus’ traditional appearance at the end of the parade will be affected by the SAG strike. (Deadline: Nov 1, 2023)

JUDGE JUDY SHEINDLIN RETURNING TO SYNDICATION?

With her previous program Judge Judy still performing very well in syndication more than two years after ending its original run, it is being reported in multiple outlets that Judge Judy Sheindlin and Amazon’s Freevee will bring her latest show, Judy Justice, to syndicated television through distributor Sox Entertainment.  This would return one of Daytime’s biggest names to linear television and mark the first time a streaming show has been sold into syndication.  Rumors are that the syndicated run would begin in fall 2024 when the current Judge Judy station deals expire.  As of this writing, neither Amazon Studios nor Sheindlin’s team have confirmed the reports. (NextTV, Deadline: Oct 31, 2023)

THIS WEEK IN VIDEO HISTORY

November 7, 2000: Meet the Press host Tim Russert creates one of the indelible images of that year’s presidential election with little more than a whiteboard and a dry-erase marker: The outcome would hinge on “Florida, Florida, Florida.”  TV Guide would name this “one of the 100 greatest moments in TV history.”