Coronavirus: $10 billion about to be lost in TV ads

Just as we discussed it many times so far, sports will be affected by the coronavirus pandemic as well. Big time. According to a report of the LA Times, the COVID-19 crisis will lead to $10 billion losses in American TV ad spending. This is going to be a historical loss for TV advertising in the USA, Meg James writes.

The LA Times is quoting a new report that’s being published by the digital research company EMarketer. It says that the pandemic will hurt well knows broadcasters such as ESPN, CBS, Turner, and NBC. A massive chunk of these broadcasters’ ad income comes precisely from sports. And as we know very well – there are no sports at the moment. The coronavirus pandemic is still going, and nobody can really say when this situation is going to be resolved.

According to EMarketer’s report, TV ads spending in the USA could face a decline of 30%. This means that between $10 billion and $12 billion in ad income would be lost.

When everything is normal, the broadcast networks are usually collecting crazy money just from ads. It was estimated that in the first half of the previous years, the TV networks received almost $34 billion from ads revenue. For the first six months of 2020, it’s expected the networks to welcome an income between $24 billion and $26.3 billion of ads income – you can calculate the difference by yourself. Among the major sports events which will lead to losing a lot of money are March Madness, NBA and NHL. Meanwhile, the postponement of the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital Tokyo will lead to NBCUniversal suffering a huge loss of $1.2 billion.

The entertainment corporation Walt Disney is among the companies which suffer the most at the moment. Disney is the owner of ESPN, while at the same time, the shutting of the movie theaters is hurting the company from another angle. Meanwhile, the Sinclair Broadcast Group had to shut down its plans to launch a brand new network with the Chicago Cubs.

At the same time, at the NHL, they are discussing some plans for finishing the season without any fans on the stands. The league already extended the self-quarantine until April 30, but there’s no clear vision when the season could be restarted.

Florida Panthers’ head coach Joel Quenneville admitted that everyone at his team wants to play at this moment. The Panthers are just three points away from qualifying for the playoffs, so their desire to continue is completely understandable.