NAB to Tout Broadcasting’s Economic Effects
NAB will release a study Tuesday that claims local TV and Radio stations affect about $1.17 trillion of the United States’ $14.66 trillion gross domestic product. The analysis, by Woods & Poole Economics, with help from BIA/Kelsey, looks at broadcasters’ cumulative effect on GDP and on the economies of each of the 50 states. Stations contribute almost $60 billion directly to GDP; the rest of the $1.17 trillion comes from broadcasting’s effects on other industries through the money its workers spend, and its “stimulative effect” on the economy through the ads it sells, the study said. The ads placed on local stations are “estimated to stimulate more than $986 billion in economic activity and support 1.38 million jobs,” the study said.
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NAB will use the study to help make its case to lawmakers and policy makers working on spectrum policy issues, NAB CEO Gordon Smith said. “Decision-makers now debating spectrum policies need to be cognizant of the millions of people and thousands of businesses reliant” on broadcasting, Smith said.
The study found that broadcasting is directly or indirectly responsible for about 9 percent of the gross state product for California, the country’s largest state economy. In New York, broadcasters are similarly responsible for about 7 percent of the state’s economic output. In rural states such as Wyoming and Alaska, broadcasting contributes slightly less to the economy, according to the study. The study said broadcasting affects about 6 percent of those states’ economies.
The study attributes 2.52 million jobs to the broadcasting industry. The industry itself employs some 305,230 each year, the study said. Another 833,270 jobs exist because of money those 305,230 broadcast workers spend, it said. “A job in local television or radio broadcast station multiplies itself by helping create jobs in construction, farming, mining, state and local government and all economic sectors,” the study said. The study attributes another 1.38 million jobs to the “stimulative effects” ads aired on broadcast TV and radio have on the economy. Such advertising drives consumer behavior and sparks competition by giving competitors information about a company’s products, features and pricing strategies, the study said.
The study looked only at broadcast radio and TV stations, excluding network TV, pay-TV and non-commercial stations, it said.