Sports Drive Increase in TV Ad Impressions in 2022

football
(Image credit: Harmonic)

BELLEVUE, Wash.—A new iSpot report on 2022 TV advertising trends is highlighting the importance that sports is playing in the TV ad market. 

The new iSpot data shows that TV ad impressions were up 7.29% year over year in the first half of 2022 with live sports playing an important role. 

Live sports accounted for 25.5% of TV ad impressions – up from 22.4% in the first half of 2021, thanks to the Winter Olympics, NFL Playoffs and full NBA Playoffs. 

Live sports accounted for four of the five TV programs with the most ad impressions, iSpot found. 

The report also highlighted the importance of Spanish language programming and the growing Hispanic market. Spanish-language TV ad impressions are up 11% year over year. Spanish-language networks like Telemundo, Univision and UniMás all grew share of TV ad impressions relative to the first half of 2021. 

The research also noted that TV ad impressions on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC increased by 3.6% YoY as networks covered the Russian invasion of Ukraine and economic concerns. All three cable news giants also increased minutes of ads during news programming, helping fuel the impressions rise as well. 

Hot industries in ihe first half of 2022 were Travel (TV ad impressions up 93% YoY), sports betting (up 81%) and theatrical releases (up 64%). 

The full report, which also includes data on the top 20 networks data, the right mix of CTV and TV buyers and other topics is available here.  

(Image credit: iSpot)
George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.