The Great Ad Shift From TV to Digital: The Information’s Tech Briefing

As much as the pandemic has given a boost to video streaming services, it appears to have sped up the decline of traditional TV. That’s become clear from third-quarter earnings showing shifts in the ad market, including reports out today from Roku and Discovery Communications.

Discovery, which owns cable channels such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC, said ad revenue at its U.S. networks fell 8%. It blamed “softer demand” caused by the pandemic as well as a shrinking number of cable subscribers and lower ratings. Over the past week or so, several other TV companies reported lower ad revenues, including Fox Corp., NBCUniversal and AMC Networks.