Spanish TV revenues see sharp year-on-year decline

Spanish TV and radio advertising revenues dropped by 10.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, according to numbers published by markets regulator the CNMC. Overall TV revenues, including pay TV sales, also fell.

According to the watchdog, TV and radio advertising revenues for the quarter to March amounted to €415.8 million, with commercial channels’ TV ad revenues dropping from €348.7 million last year to €303.8 million in 2021.

Pay TV ad sales increased from €25.9 million to €29 million over the same period, while public broadcaster ad revenues were more or less flat, dropping from €17.8 million to €17.7 million.

Among commercial broadcasters, Mediaset and Atresmedia accounted for 80% of the advertising pie, with Atresmedia taking 43.6% to Mediaset’s 38.3%.

The drop in ad sales slightly outpaced an overall decline in total TV and radio revenues over the same period. Total sales declined by 9% year-on-year to €910.4 million in the quarter to March, wth pay TV revenues declining by 6.5% TO €511.6 million.

The share of TV viewing accounted for by digital-terrestrial TV fell below the 75% mark for the first time in the quarter. According to statistics compiled by Kantar Media and reported by the CNMC, DTT took at 74.9% share, compared with 23.7% for cable and IPTV and 1.4% for satellite.

The most popular channels overall were Telecinco, Antena 3 and La1, with shares of 15.1%, 13.9% and 9% respectively.

Separately, eight out of 10 Spanish internet households now consume paid-for online audiovisual content, according to the latest market study by the CNMC.

At the end of the second quarter, the CNMC found that 53% of internet households used services such as Netflix, HBO or Amazon Prime Video, up 8%  on the 49.1% that used such services at the same point last year.