In a year when overall ad spending was flat—and broadcast was down slightly—a handful of categories increased their buys, creating opportunities for advertising sales staffs, according to a report from Matrix Solutions.
Matrix Solutions, whose ad sales platform is used by station groups including E.W. Scripps, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar, Hearst and Gray, managed more than $12.5 billion in ad revenue in 2017. Based on what came through its system, spending on broadcast dropped 2.9%.
But some categories increased spending on broadcast, based on Matrix Solutions’ data.
Spending by media/communications companies was up 6.6%, spending by lottery and gambling was up 3%, and spending on general services was up 2.2%. Also showing smaller increases were health and beauty, and trade organizations.
The biggest declines were registered by the beverage category, retail restaurants, travel and leisure, automotive and entertainment.
The report noted that digital broadcast is booming, with ad sales growing in nearly every category at an average rate of 13%.
“According to our data, overall ad spend remained relatively flat from 2016 to 2017, which means the stakes are higher than ever for media organizations looking to improve their bottom line,” said Mark Gorman, CEO at Matrix Solutions. “Understanding where brands are investing provides media ad sales teams with a leg up in bringing in revenue more efficiently.”
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Michael O’Brien, VP, sales at The E. W. Scripps Co., said: “We rely on Matrix Solutions to provide us with better sales intelligence across our unique channels of inventory – projecting revenue and reporting on granular data that matters to us as a media organization. The company’s Advertising Spend Report provides an added layer of insight from the overall media industry, helping us to make complex decisions and improve our overall revenue.”
Including digital and radio, the amount of spending handled by Matrix Solutions droped to $11 billion from $12.5 billionin 2017, In 2016, politcal adversing acounted for $1.5 billion. Excluding political spending from both yaars, total spending slipped to $10.8 billion from $11 billion.
