TV Could Follow Radio and Newspapers If Recession Grips U.S. Economy

As fears of a recession mount following President Trump’s sweeping new tariffs, U.S. media and internet companies face the risk of a multibillion-dollar decline in ad spending—potentially delivering a fatal blow to traditional television advertising, Alexandra Canal reported for Yahoo Finance.

Analysts are worried that television may suffer the same fate as radio.

“Given the ongoing secular headwinds facing the linear TV ecosystem, we worry that television could mirror the fate of radio and newspapers during past recessions,” wrote MoffettNathanson analysts Michael Nathanson and Robert Fishman in a recent report.

If a recession does materialize, the firm estimates that U.S. ad spending would come in $45 billion below current forecasts—an 11.5 percentage point hit to top-line revenue growth across the media industry.

Digital platforms would absorb the bulk of the decline, with an estimated $29 billion in lost ad revenue. But traditional TV would also take a significant hit, facing a projected $12 billion shortfall.

Trump’s tariffs have reignited recession fears, and analysts warn that a related pullback in advertising could not only shrink the market but also hasten the demise of legacy broadcast television.