Research

Cable nets’ 2Q results were highlighted by excellent ad rev, but SNL Kagan postulates weakening in the year’s latter half and in ’09 thanks to a sluggish economy. Following 12.6% ad rev growth in ’07 to $38bln, Kagan expects cable nets to achieve 10.4% growth in ’08 and 4.7% in ’09. Still, network ad revenue is expected to grow 8% annually through ’18. Other 10-year forecasts for cable nets include 1.3% annual growth in subs and 8.9% annual growth in total industry rev.