Estimated Media Spending Up? What’s Driving the Increase?

It seems all we hear about is how media budgets are being cut.  But some positive news came out of eMarketer which predicts media spend will increase  5.1% this year.  That number is slightly lower than had originally thought, but yes this is overall good news.  Let’s be wary of what is driving that increase. 

        

•       Politics -- political spend always tightens media inventory which naturally creates higher prices for media.  This supply/demand balance slow burns as caucuses occur state by state.  Then around June onward, inventory significantly constrains as we head into the Presidential election.
•           Olympics – the sporting events put a huge constraint on inventory during the summer months. Advertisers who normally don’t run consistent media schedules do burst media campaigns around the event.
•          Early Holiday Promotion – it seems Christmas shopping literally starts at Halloween.  Special “before” holiday shopping deals are becoming more prevalent.  Look at this new trend to constrain inventory as well.

So before we celebrate the “rise of media” let’s make sure we know the reasons for the increase and realize this might be an abnormal year of spend.

Scott