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The ad market grew 2.8% during December compared to a year earlier, according to Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker – the former Standard Media Index. It brought 2023 to a close with nine consecutive months of growth in the ad market. Overall, Guideline says the total ad market managed to squeak out a half percent of growth last year, compared to 2022.
The biggest month for growth was July when Guideline says ad billings increased 5.9%. That compared to a half-point increase in April. Despite the fluctuations, the monthly data can be seen as a positive sign that a pullback in advertising spending appears to be waning.
Even as the year-end numbers climbed, Guideline’s monthly index of advertising ended the year with a month-to-month drop. The index was 145.66 last month. That compared to a 159.60 in November, or an 8.7% decline.
Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker shows digital advertising accounted for two-thirds of advertising spending in December. The data also shows it was categories other than the top ten where most of spending gains occurred last month.
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Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker is a composite monthly index from Standard Media Index, designed to provide a real-world measure of U.S. ad spending, based on actual invoiced media buys – including on radio – from the major agencies and their clients. As such, it is mostly representative of spending by larger national advertisers.
See Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker HERE.