Is the Decline of Cable an Opportunity for DRTV Marketers?

This is the time of year that all the drtv media experts attempt to predict advertising spending for the coming year and analyze trends for the past year. In reviewing various reports and articles, one trend that stood out was the growing weakness in national cable TV sales. The growth in total cable ad spending was expected to slow to 6% in 2006 from 11% in 2005, according to TNS Media Intelligence. This represents a significant drop in ad spending. Cable ad sales were described as "very, very weak" across the board, according to an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. (Wall Street Journal 11/25/06)

Cable TV has enjoyed consistent growth over the last 25 years as the service expanded across the country and drtv advertisers shifted their budgets to this medium. Now those days are over according to the WSJ. Money is shifting to the Internet and Internet ad spending is experiencing double-digit growth in the range of 15%-30% annually.