Just as major studios were preparing to appeal to advertisers for fall programming, the ongoing writers’ guild strike has shaken confidence in the industry.
Key Details
- The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May 1, when discussions broke down between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over pay disputes.
- The strike may hit fall programming as shows in current development are paused while their writers are unavailable.
- The strike has played out with advertising in the entertainment industry, as major studios and distributors are currently ramping up efforts to appeal to advertisers for the remainder of the year, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- Insider Intelligence reports an expected 3.4% or $18.6 billion advertising dip for the 2023-2024 season.
- Netflix canceled a planned in-person presentation at the Paris Theater in New York City in favor of a virtual presentation.
Why It’s Important
The added pressure comes at a difficult moment for traditional television, with audiences decreasing amid a shrinking media market share, audiences aging out, and advertising revenue shrinking as a result. Magna predicts a 6.7% decline in advertising for television, regardless of the strike.
It remains to be seen what the long-term implications of the current writers’ strike will be, given that it is only two weeks into its picketing at this moment. If the dispute can be resolved quickly, advertisers will return with the promises that film and television programming will be confidently set in stone within the next few months.
Fox ad sales head Marianne Gambelli tells The Journal that she expects advertisers to hold off initially and wait for the current market to settle as companies scramble to plan for the fall without scheduled content locked down.
“It’s an economic storm we have not really seen before,” says NBCUniversal’s interim chair for global advertising Mark Marshall.