TV advertising spending 'flat' in second quarter, reports say

TV adspend fell by a larger-than-forecast 7% in April and is likely to be "little better than flat" in the second quarter after expanding by roughly 2% in the first quarter, according to MediaWeek.

The advertising trade publication said TV insiders blamed advertisers' worries about the Brexit vote.

At its final results at the beginning of March, ITV said it expected a drop of 5% in April, but that advertising revenue in the first quarter of the year was likely to be flat but would pick up in the second quarter thanks to the European football championships.

According to MediaWeek's industry sources, May is expected to see a rally of 1-2%, with June improving further, with the Euro 2016 tournament from 10 June to 10 July up in the air after some advertisers began putting spend on hold in March because of the vote to remain or leave the European Union on 23 June.

The Advertising Association and Warc this week predicted a 5% increase for the full year.

Last month Morgan Stanley's monitoring of feedback from the ad industry since the results found more positive sentiment than ITV had indicated.

Analysts said ITV spot net advertising revenue (NAR) looked to have risen roughly 2% in the first quarter and expressed surprise at ITV’s negative NAR figure for April.

Media buyers remained confident on 3.5%-4% NAR growth for the year, with some signs of numbers being edged up to over 4% on expectations of a strong May-July and a firm second half.

"Media buyers report that advertisers are considering Brexit in the context of consumer confidence but no impact on the ad market is being felt."

Morgan Stanley forecast just 2.5% NAR growth for ITV in 2016.