That’s one of the nuggets from a new Borrell Associates study conducted for TVB. Local TV stations are expected to make more than $1.1 billion for online advertising this year (+45% over last year), staying ahead of the pace to continue to grow online share. The report also illustrates the vast divide between stations in the same market: for example, one station pulls in $4M in online revenue compared to the next closest competitor at $1.4M. Three others make less than $500,000 each. Lots more good tidbits in the report, summarized by PaidContent here.
By the way, you have to wonder — local TV sites on average have more ad positions than the vast majority of news/information sites on the web. If about three-quarters of that ad inventory is unsold, perhaps a good strategy would be to reduce the number of ad units, improving the user experience while creating more punch for existing advertisers. Just a thought.