Advertising investment in pay and open television is already similar in the United States

While the large networks saw advertising investment slow down in 2008 and 2009, due to the financial crisis in the country, cable channels began to appear as an alternative, since they can attract audiences from different niches.

According to Nielsen, advertising investment on pay channels in the United States is higher than that of free-to-air channels. In 2011, a total of $21 billion was invested in pay TV and a similar amount in free TV.

It is the first time that free-to-air television networks match the paid offer in terms of advertising investment. Since 2007, the amount of investment in pay channels in the United States has increased by 47%. One explanation for this growth is that the medium has entered a phase of maturity, with an increase in the quality of the content offered, generating a larger audience. While the large networks saw advertising investment slow down in 2008 and 2009, due to the financial crisis in the country, cable channels began to appear as an alternative, since they can attract audiences from different niches.

No obstante, la fuerza de la tv en abierto en EE.UU. es aún mayor que el cable en Estados Unidos. De hecho, un spot emitido en horario de máxima audiencia en alguna de las networks como NBC, CW, ABC, Fox y CBS, por ejemplo, sigue siendo mucho más caro que una inserción en los canales de cable. De acuerdo con Nielsen, el mercado televisivo en EE.UU. estaría aún tratando de recuperar el nivel de inversión publicitaria previo al inicio de la crisis en 2008, cuando el monto de la inversión anual alcanzó su máximo histórico con 25.000 millones de dólares.