Analysis: OTT ad spend hit by writers’ strike
June 7, 2023
To gauge the risk for advertisers from the ongoing writers’ strike, advertising intelligence and sales enablement platform MediaRadar analysed a data sample of ad spend from categories most vulnerable to production stoppages.
Key findings include:
Categories most vulnerable to writers’ strike saw over $633 million ad spend combined last quarter
Advertisers spent $633.2 million (€592.4m) last quarter on the three categories most vulnerable to the writers’ strike – TV talk shows, TV soap operas, and streaming platforms.
- Ad spend on TV talk shows totalled $221.4 million in Q1 2023, up 11 per cent YoY ($199.9 million in Q1 2022)
- Ad spend on TV soap operas was $59.4 million in Q1 2023, up 23 per cent YoY ($48.8 million in Q1 2022)
- Ad spend on streaming platforms was $352.4 million in Q1 2023, down 28 per cent YoY ($486.8 million in Q1 2022)
Movies and movie-related events have much to lose
During the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards, over 100 advertisers invested $25.7 million to showcase nearly 160 brands. Top categories included Media & Entertainment, Technology, Medical & Pharmaceutical, Retail, and Finance, which combined totalled $18.5 million (66 per cent of the total spend).
Advertisers that invested over $1 million included: schizophrenia prescription, cell providers, action films, food delivery, bipolar prescription, pickup truck and career website. Combined spend was $11.5 million, or 45 per cent of the total investment during the awards show.
The data sample also showed advertising for movies and films during Q1 2023 exceeded $771 million, a 24 per cent YoY increase from Q1 2022. Depending on the length of the Writer’s Strike, movie production may be impacted.
Data pertains to January 1st 2022, through March 31st 2023.