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CPM drops examined: not a pretty picture

01 March, 2009 10:22:00

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RBR/TVBR asked Neil Klar, President/CEO, SQAD Inc to do some quarterly and yearly CPM comps for spot TV and spot radio. Year to year, interestingly enough, there are some inconsistencies in terms of what you may suspect. Comparing spot television CPMs from Q4 2007 to Q1 2008 to Q4 2008 to Q1 2009 and the changes in each of those years starts to show where the big shift is occurring. For A 25-54, for example, from Q4 2007 to Q1 2008 the change was a 14% drop. From Q4 2008 to Q1 2009 the drop was a whopping 26%. Q4 2008 was a higher number than Q4 2007, because of elections. Spot radio was better off—likely due to getting less election dollars than spot TV in Q4. For A 25-54 from Q4 2007 to Q1 2008 the change was only a 3% drop. From Q4 2008 to Q1 2009 the drop was 8.5%. See the chart below.

	Quarter	A 25-54	A 18-49	SQAD Issue
Mon-Sun Avg
Spot Radio	1Q 2009	$ 13.20	$ 12.68	Feb-09
	1Q 2008	$ 14.85	$ 14.10	Mar-08

	4Q 2008	$ 14.28	$ 13.76	Dec-08
	4Q 2007	$ 14.45	$ 13.77	Dec-07

	3Q 2008	$ 14.24	$ 13.61	Sep-08
	3Q 2007	$ 14.02	$ 13.36	Sep-07




Prime Time
Spot TV	1Q 2009	$ 37.64	$ 39.12	Mar-09
	1Q 2008	$ 38.82	$ 41.04	Mar-08

	4Q 2008	$ 51.00	$ 52.28	Dec-08
	4Q 2007	$ 44.98	$ 48.88	Dec-07

	3Q 2008	$ 47.37	$ 48.50	Sep-08
	3Q 2007	$ 42.30	$ 47.56	Sep-07


SOURCE:
SQAD Inc.
All CPMs are AVERAGE Level