U.S. Ad Spending Jumps 7.8% in March, Led By Digital Growth.

The ad market showed renewed signs of health in March as the ad tracking firm Guideline says total spending climbed 7.8% from a year ago during what is typically the strongest month during the first quarter for advertisers. That was an improvement over the 2.4% growth rate registered a month earlier. The report brings a data point to statements by the big ad agency leaders in recent weeks that their clients have been keeping a close eye on the economy, but none had pulled back on their marketing efforts.

Guideline’s U.S. Ad Market Tracker shows digital once again is where the biggest pace of growth occurred in March. It says total spending by U.S. advertisers increased 13.4% compared to a year earlier. That helped to make up for a 3.7% decline in traditional media ad spending. Digital’s share of overall spending remained at 70% after a soft start to the year.

The numbers released Wednesday show that, unlike in recent months, it was the top 10 ad categories where the biggest growth occurred during March. The top 10 categories increased combined spending 8.9% year-to-year, while those categories beyond the top 10 grew their spending 6.2%. That may reflect that larger brands are more willing to make media investments in uncertain economic times, although it is too soon to tell — and a lot will depend on how the marketplace responds to the tariff impacts in the coming months.

In a report released two weeks ago, Guideline said based on forward bookings data, which provide an early glimpse into advertiser commitments, marketers are refining their spend — not retreating — by focusing on high-performing categories.

The firm said it sees “notable resilience” in financial services, with ads pacing up 15% while tariffs have caused more uncertainty in the auto market than most others, and that is reflected in ad spending. The auto sector remains a soft spot, with ad spending pacing down 9%, but Guideline notes that the overall landscape still reflects growth and strategic evolution, not decline.

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 radio — from the major agencies and their clients. As such, it is mostly representative of spending by larger national advertisers.

The data is powered by Standard Media Index (SMI) and covers radio, television, digital, print, and out-of-home media types. It is based on actual spending data from the SMI pool partners at major holding companies and large ad agencies, representing 95% of all U.S. national brand ad spending.

See Guideline’s U.S. Ad Market Tracker HERE.