Although December’s national linear TV ad spending improved compared to previous months, it still declined 2%, according to Standard Media Index — to roughly $3.7 billion.

Looking at the entire fourth quarter, the national TV marketplace was down 6% — an improvement from the 16% decline of the third quarter.

For the calendar year 2022, national TV ad spend was down 5% versus the 2021 year — and 14% lower than 2019.

SMI says that when including media buys for national TV deals for streaming NFL content — as well as that for Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” — national TV spending grew 2%.

When including “TNF” among all fourth-quarter sports programming, national TV sports ad spend was up 9% for the month, and 2% higher for the fourth quarter of 2022 versus the same period the year before.

According to SMI, national TV ad spend for sports programming grew 8% in the fourth quarter, while broadcast sports was virtually flat.

Entertainment content was down 10% for the fourth quarter; with news programming 7% lower.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers — the largest TV ad category — were up 6% year over year in December; general business advertisers grew 12%; and entertainment marketers, 3% more.

But retail marketers — the third-biggest category — were down 6%, while financial services lost 23% and hard-hit technology marketers sank a massive 28%.

The national TV marketplace was down 6% for all of Q4 — an improvement from the 16% decline of Q3. Although December’s national linear TV ad spend improved vs. previous months, it still declined 2%, according to Standard Media Index.