Sports’ consumption of broadcast television continues to advance as scripted entertainment continues to retreat from schedules. This September, just 36 scripted series will air on the Big Four networks, down 45 percent from 66 scripted series eight years ago. Ratings ain’t great — the 97 primetime entertainment series averaged 414,228 adults per episode live-plus-same-day in the 2024-25 season — 88 percent of the audience that does show up isn’t in the adults under 50 demographic, which is the one that advertisers value particularly highly. Sports, though, is where the action is: while still a minority of overall broadcast time, in 2024, sports accounted for $13.2 billion in spend, nipping at the heels of the $16 billion spent on television shows.
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