The erosion of ad dollars earmarked for traditional TV has gone from alarming to dire.
Advertisers cut their “upfront” spending on broadcast TV by approximately 5.3%, according to an analysis of the annual sales market by Media Dynamics Inc., a consultancy that tracks ad spending. Spending on cable TV fell even more, with marketers cutting outlays by 7.7%. In 2025, the spending decline for ad commitments for broadcast fell by just 2.5%, while ad commitments for cable were off by 4.3%. The estimates would mark the fourth consecutive year in which advertising money committed to broadcast and cable fell during the annual sales haggle.
TV’s losses are growing as more advertisers rush to put money down where consumers are gravitating to most: sports and streaming.
The volume of ad commitments put toward streaming rose a whopping 30%, according to Media Dynamics, up to nearly $33.8 billion, compared with nearly $31 billion in 2025. Broadcast commitments in 2026, meanwhile, fell to $8.63 billion, compared with $9.1 billion last year. Cable commitments fell to nearly $8 billion in 2026, compared with nearly $8.7 billion in 2025.
Thanks to streaming gains, the overall market rose 9.1%, Media Dynamics says, to about $33.8 billion, compared with nearly $31 billion last year. Advertisers again committed a greater amount of money to streaming than they did to either broadcast or cable primetime, for the third consecutive year.
