The national ad market continues to show growth, according to Standard Media Index’s Ad Tracker. It shows the total U.S. market grew 9.1% versus a year ago in April. That was the second-biggest growth rate in the past year, topped only by February’s 11.3% increase. It was also the 13th consecutive month the index showed year-over-year gains. The index was down 6% versus the prior month, however.
Standard Media Index says digital media spending is behind the gains. It increased 16.5% in April compared to a year earlier, while traditional ad spending slid 2.2%. But that was a much smaller year-to-year dip than the 13.5% decrease recorded in March. The net effect is digital spending accounted for 64% of national ad spending in April compared to a 36% share of national dollars going into traditional media like radio.
SMI says national ad spending gains were larger for smaller ad categories. Among the top ten ad categories, including consumer packaged goods, retail and automotive, national ad spending climbed 4.6% in April versus a year earlier. But among the small ad categories, national spending increased 15.4%.
Standard Media Index and its partners, which include all the big ad agencies, captures data on 95% of all U.S. national brand ad spending to provide a monthly snapshot of the market across all media, including radio, television, digital, out of home and print.
Although Standard Media Index tracks national radio spending, it only releases specific data on the television market. It shows national TV spending was down 7.3% in March. No April data has been released so far.