BY Adam Ambro
The TV landscape is beginning to shift. For many years, automotive, in a non-election year, was the front-runner when it came to the amount of money spent on ad sales for TV. But recently, the industry started to notice things were changing. Now, according to a report from TV News Check, 2022 trends are starting to move towards a large uptick in political spending, with another election cycle coming, along with sports betting advertising.
Why are automotive ad sales for TV slowing down?
TV News Check spoke to Jason Stein, CEO of the auto media services company Flat Six Media, who noted that by late 2019, he had concerns about the auto industry's capacity to continue aggressive advertising due to:
- an overabundance of vehicle inventory
- dealers fighting against the inability to make money on new cars
- automakers battling the enormous struggle of massive investments in far-flung technologies, such as autonomous vehicles
“Consider, [today], that dealers have no inventory,” said Stein. “In some states, for some dealers, there are 30 cars on the lot, whereas once there were 300 on a monthly basis. Dealers could not possibly be making more money than they are off new cars. And, funny enough, nobody’s talking about autonomous vehicles.”
That said, there are still opportunities in the auto industry for dealers who are willing to invest in advertising.. Deloitte’s 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study found that, this year, dealers can capitalize on the “intention to buy a gasoline or diesel vehicle, as consumers may be looking for the comfort of affordable, tried, and tested technology in uncertain times.”
Political Wave Incoming
After the tumultuous, seemingly never-ending, 2020 election cycle, it’s already time to look ahead to next year’s election for a record amount that will be spent on TV ads. Ali Lapp, president of the House Majority PAC, told TV News Check that she expects her political action committee will do more advertising on over-the-top (OTT) platforms in the 2022 cycle than it’s ever done before, in order to find voters where they’re watching.
Additionally, Steve Passwaiter, VP of growth and strategy at Kantar Media Intelligence, estimated that $1.2 billion will be spent on OTT and connected TV in the 2022 cycle. In addition, Kantar expects to see ad sales for TV garner $3.8 billion of the projected $7.8 billion that will be spent over the next year.
Sports betting — changing the game
While automotive and political ad sales for TV are fairly standard fare, the biggest trend in advertising is sports betting. With more states legalizing sports gambling, and more easy-to-use apps available for consumers, the industry is booming for advertisers.
“Currently 55% of the U.S. population has access to some form of legal sports betting,” said Chris Grove, a partner in the consulting firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. “For online sports betting specifically, that number is 47%.”
“There are a handful of states where we think the chances for progress are exceptional over the course of the remainder of this year and into 2022. That’s Massachusetts, Ohio, North Carolina and Texas,” Grove added. “What we’ve seen in all of these states is a mix of existing legislative momentum; strong support from key stakeholders that have an interest in moving legal sports betting forward; and in many of these states pressure from neighboring states [where sports betting is already legal].”
Sports gambling is already estimated to generate around $4 billion in revenue in 2021, with that number looking to grow to $12 billion by 2025, according to Eilers & Krejcik. With that much revenue available, ad sales for TV have plenty of room for growth opportunities as betting platforms need to reach their target sports gambling customers.
To assist you, turn to AdMall’s AudienceSCAN profiles, powered by SalesFuel. With data on automotive buyers, voters affiliated with different parties, and sports gamblers, you’ll be able to approach your advertisers with all the research needed for them to reach their target audiences.
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