A new report says the U.S. cable industry won’t achieve the level of annual ad revenue that it’s expecting over the next several years. That’s despite the rapid progress in interactive advertising over cable networks.
The report, done by Pike & Fischer, projects ad revenue will not exceed $10 billion before 2015. Cable executives have said they want to reach $15 billion a year by that time. They are working on a standardized, cross-operator platform capable of supporting interactive advertising on a national basis. It’s hoped that will help them reach their goals. Much of this effort is being pursued through Canoe Ventures, a joint venture involving top cable operators such as Comcast and Cox Communications.
The P & F report cites several reasons for the gloomy forecast, including: the daunting task of reshaping age-old advertising tactics, reduced spending by advertisers across all media, competition from online advertising, and the intensive privacy protections that will have to be embedded in the gathering of user data to enable such features as personalized ads.
