• by Wayne Friedman , January 13, 2017

U.S. TV ad revenues will be flat in 2017 -- mostly from stable metrics. And this is good news.

Deloitte Global predicts total U.S. TV revenues -- all national networks, local TV stations and cable -- will hit $72 billion.

The TV section of its report on overall technology, media, and telecommunications trends in 2017, Deloitte says: “TV advertising in the U.S: flat is the new up.”

This comes from continuing strong and consistent data. It notes: TV’s average monthly reach among U.S. adults is 93%; there continues to be stable high viewing, of around five hours a day; low/little changing time-shifting of around 29 minutes/day; as well as the number of minutes of TV watched by the average viewer fell by less than 1% -- one minute per day.

The report also said there was minimal cord-cutting in 2016 -- down 1% to 2%, or 1.75 million. And those watching through home digital antenna rose by nearly 1 million, meaning there was a net loss of TV viewing homes was around 800,000.

Although the decline in live/time-shifted viewing among young viewers is steeper than the U.S. population overall, it says the rate of decline among young 18-24 viewers in the recent years is lower. It fell by 8% in 2016 versus a 14% decline in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Supporting all this, says Deloitte Global, is the higher cost-per-thousand viewing prices marketers will pay for most of the 2016-2017 TV season, 8.5% to 12.5% more than the previous season. That's gains TV networks inked in last June/July’s upfront advertising sales period.

The report says U.S. TV advertising revenues are almost one-third of all global TV ad revenues.