CBS is one of the world’s biggest advertisers and its commercial properties are the heart and soul of many TV networks.
But it’s not easy.
In the first year of the deal, CBS lost nearly 4% in advertising revenue.
In 2019, that figure jumped to about 12%.
In 2021, the ad revenue dipped more than 10%.
The year before that, it dipped about 4% — a drop of almost 30%.
In 2019, CBS was averaging about 10 million viewers per episode.
By 2020, that number had fallen to less than 4 million.
CBS was also losing about $4 million per episode in ad revenue, according to The Wall Street Journal.
By 2021, CBS and Disney had made a combined $1.1 billion in profit from the deal.
CBS made about $1 billion, Disney about $850 million.CBS’ financial woes were compounded in the wake of the “Walking Dead” debacle, in which its ratings dipped by as much as 15% on average and it lost its ad revenue for the first time in three years.
It was the second year in a row that the network lost more than 5% of its ad dollars, according, CBS MoneyWatch.
By the time the deal was announced in February 2021, it had fallen below CBS’s original projection of $4 billion, which was the company’s highest estimate since it began making those projections in 2012.
In 2021, its estimated revenue was about $2.6 billion.CBS and Disney’s reported profits have been in flux since then.
By March 2019, the Disney-owned company had said it was projecting a $2 billion profit and a $1 million profit for the year ending in June 2021.
In May 2020, the company said its projections had dropped to $1,200 million in 2018.
By 2019, Disney was projecting revenues of $3.9 billion and a loss of $2 million.
Disney said it planned to increase its forecast by $400 million for 2020.
By 2020, Disney’s earnings were expected to be about $6 billion and its losses were expected in the range of $800 million to $2,400 million.
By 2021, Disney had projected a loss in the $2-billion range and projected a profit of about $3 billion.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the company news conference that the deal would “open a whole new era for the TV business.”
By 2021 and 2022, he said, the partnership will be worth $30 billion.
The Disney-CBS deal is the largest acquisition in TV history, and it’s an important milestone for the broadcast media.
The deal will give CBS more revenue than it has in any single year since the merger with NBCUniversal.
CBS is expected to take home about $11 billion.