2017 was a big year for cable news channels in both ratings and revenue (because when you get the former, the latter follows).
Across all platforms, the spend on news media was up +4.1 percent, according to Standard Media Index. Compare that to Entertainment programs (flat at -0.8 percent) and Sports (down -12.0 percent) news was the bright spot in 2017, especially cable news. MSNBC saw the most ad spend growth last year, up +17.8 percent, followed by CNN at +13.6 percent, and Fox News was up +11.2 percent vs. 2016.
In December alone the cable news ad spend jumped +27.2 percent, with MSNBC up a whopping +56.9 percent, CNN up +35.6 percent, and Fox News up +23.4 percent.
News programming on broadcast TV declined -1 percent last month with NBC News down -2.8 percent. That came on the heels of the firing of the Today show’s Matt Lauer on November 29. The Today show alone was down -24 percent in December, compared to December 2016.
Through all of 2017, the advertising market grew +3.8 percent. Digital led the growth with an +11.9 percent increase, according to SMI.