How much a local TV ad costs: broadcast, cable and streaming

A local TV ad cost usually runs from a few hundred dollars to several thousand per airing. Market size and daypart set most of that range, according to 2026 guidance from Comcast Advertising and National Media Spots. Production is a separate cost.

Streaming TV is usually sold per thousand impressions (CPM) instead of per spot, and campaigns can start on small daily budgets.

Local TV ad costs at a glance

The figures below are the most specific dated ones available for local TV. Each row gives one figure and its unit, because per-spot, per-month and CPM prices answer different questions.

These are publisher estimates. None of the sources states a methodology or measurement period, and none of them is a station rate card. No public, dated dataset breaks local spot rates down by market size and daypart, so treat the ranges as a starting point for a conversation with a station or cable sales team. For network and national pricing next to these local numbers, see our guide to national and local TV advertising costs.

How stations price a local spot

Local broadcast time is priced with two numbers: the market’s cost per point and the program’s rating. A research guide from the Lincoln Library describes the SQAD cost-per-point method: take the SQAD cost per point for the market and multiply it by the Nielsen rating of the program airing at that time. The result approximates the price of the spot.

That formula explains both drivers. A higher-rated program carries more points, so the same market charges more for an ad in local news or prime time than for one at 2 AM. This is also why a spot in a top-10 market and a spot in a small DMA can differ by an order of magnitude. Our comparison of local vs national TV buys covers when each scale makes sense.

Television sells a placement in a specific program, daypart and market. Streaming sells a quantity of impressions to a defined audience, often through an auction. Converting a spot price to a CPM and setting it next to a streaming CPM is common, but the impressions aren’t the same goods. A TV impression is often a shared, full-screen household view, while a streaming impression can be a connected TV or a phone.

What moves the price: market size, daypart and season

Four factors account for most of the difference between two local quotes:

• Market size. Smaller DMAs generally cost less and major metropolitan areas cost more, per Comcast Advertising.
• Daypart. Prime time (typically 8 to 11 PM) carries the highest rates because viewing peaks then. Early morning, daytime and late night cost less, according to National Media Spots.
• Ad length. Fifteen-second spots are usually priced below 30-second spots, though rates vary by network and placement.
• Season and congestion. Rates rise in crowded windows such as the fourth quarter, major sports periods and local election cycles.

Off-peak and remnant inventory is the usual entry point for a small advertiser testing broadcast, but it comes with less control over exactly when the ad runs. For the longer-term direction of prices, see our analysis of whether TV ad costs are rising.

What changed since the last release: political money in 2026

BIA Advisory Services updated its 2026 U.S. Local Advertising Forecast on September 14, 2026, and the change is mostly political money. BIA now projects total 2026 local ad revenue at $186.1 billion. According to that September release, the figure is up $1.6 billion and about 9% above 2025, measured against BIA’s April 2026 estimate of $184.5 billion.

The September update puts local political spending at $9.7 billion for 2026, up from $8.4 billion in April. Of that $1.3 billion increase, BIA says $1.2 billion went to TV OTA (broadcast) and TV OTT (streaming). Its first look at 2027 has political spending falling to about $1.1 billion in the off-cycle year, with total local revenue roughly flat at $186.5 billion. All of these are forecasts, not measured spending.

For a local business, the practical effect is inventory. Political campaigns compete for the same local broadcast time in the run-up to the midterms. That displacement hits local TV harder than streaming, so commercial advertisers can face higher rates or fewer available spots until the election passes. Campaigns weighing their own buys can read our page on TV advertising for political campaigns.

Production is a separate line

Every figure in the table above is airtime only. The commercial itself costs extra. Moonb’s 2026 guide puts a simple local spot at $1,500 to $10,000 for production. That covers a videographer or small crew, one location, one day and a straightforward edit. Professional mid-range work runs $10,000 to $50,000. On a modest local schedule, production can rival or exceed the first month of media. Our breakdown of TV commercial production costs goes through each tier.

Streaming TV as a local alternative

Streaming TV lets a business target a DMA, ZIP code or radius and pay by CPM, with much lower minimums than a broadcast schedule. National Media Spots notes that CTV campaigns can launch on $500 to $1,000 a month. Amazon Ads describes streaming pricing as more flexible, with lower minimum spends and the ability to cap budgets.

Streaming has limits. It usually guarantees impressions, not delivery within a target demographic the way large TV buys can. A small budget spread over too wide an audience may deliver too little frequency to register. CPMs also vary widely within streaming: premium subscription ad tiers and live sports cost far more than open-exchange inventory, so a single “streaming CPM” hides a lot. Our page of streaming TV ad cost data has platform-level figures.

Adwave is one way to run local streaming TV alongside other channels. You paste your website, and Adwave creates the ads and runs them across TV, search, social and the web from one daily budget. Adwave pricing allows daily budgets from $30 to $10,000, prepaid, with no subscription or contract, and campaign creative is included. Channel availability depends on budget:

• TV, Facebook, Instagram and Google (YouTube) open from $30 a day.
• Google Search opens from $67 a day.

Budget, audience size, creative and content eligibility determine what runs. Extra creative beyond the included set has its own price, for example $12 per additional 30-second TV spot. The Adwave omnichannel campaigns page shows how one budget spreads across those channels.

How to compare a local TV quote

1. Ask the station or cable rep for the cost per point and the rating behind each spot price, so you can see what audience you’re paying for.
2. Separate media from production and any agency or management fees. Quotes that bundle them are hard to compare.
3. Check which daypart and dates the quote assumes. A fourth-quarter or election-season price won’t match a January price for the same slot.
4. Confirm whether delivery is guaranteed against a demographic or only by impression count, and what happens if it falls short.
5. Compare channels by cost per business result, such as calls, form fills, bookings and branded search, instead of by raw CPM. A holdout test gives a cleaner read than platform-reported attribution.

For a wider view of local media budgets beyond TV, see our local advertising cost guide.