US TV ad revenues reached $17 billion as 2020 came to an end. TV advertising revenues are projected to increase by 11% to $52.3 billion this year as a result of events expected to drive a surge in the market, such as the Summer Olympics and vaccine distributions.
Despite any short-term struggles from large advertising downturns, the outlook for e-sports remains positive - this year, US e-sports ad revenues will still grow 12% to $196 million, according to eMarketer.
Several media companies have indicated in recent weeks that their second-quarter ad revenue is likely to drop by double-digit percentages compared with 2019 levels, posing threats for the industry's USD 70 billion ad business.
According to the Standard Media Index, Broadcast TV ad revenue fell by 19% in March to USD 1.16 billion and Cable TV dropped by 10.9% to USD 2.4 billion, with the cancellation of live sports programming as the main reason.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, topped Wall Street estimates for Q1 revenue but fell short on net profit — and said ad sales had significantly fallen in March amid the coronavirus crisis.