Media ad spend vs. time spent in the U.S. in 2018

In 2018, the average percentage of time spent watching TV by consumers was equal to the rate of ad spending in the United States, namely 34 percent. Consumers spent about 12 percent of their time listening to the radio, which presented a four percent profit opportunity for U.S. advertisers.

TV advertising

Television is one of the most common media used for displaying ads. For every dollar invested in TV advertising in the United States, advertisers earned roughly six and a half U.S. dollars in 2018, making it the medium with the second-highest return on advertising spending (or ROAS) in the country that year. TV advertising’s total revenue in the United States is also predicted to grow from 71 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 to just over 72 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

30-second commercials on U.S. broadcast TV

Advertising in the 2019/20 broadcast season in the United States was by far most expensive during NBC’s Sunday Night Football and FOX’s Thursday Night Football. Running a 30-second spot during these broadcasting companies’ TV shows cost roughly 685 thousand and 540 thousand U.S. dollars respectively that season.