After the predictions of economic doom and gloom earlier this year, 2019 will likely be good to media companies. MAGNA analysts now predict marketer enthusiasm will drive ad sales by 6.3% this year. And looking ahead, the presidential election cycle will likely reach a record spending level of nearly $6 billion. 

2019 Ad Spending

Consumers appear to remain confident despite the potential negative impact of a deepening trade war with China. Their spending level will likely increase 4% in 2019. Direct-​to-​consumer brands will continue to drive ad spending this year. Analysts point to Wayfair and Peloton as examples of this trend. While these companies started out advertising on digital, they now spend heavily on TV, radio and OOH to expand their reach. The growth in national TV  and OOH by the DTC brands helped to offset the drop in local TV ad spending this year.

By media format, MAGNA predicts the following changes in ad spending for 2019:

• National TV 0.1%
• Local TV ‑3.4%
• Publishing ‑7.1%
• Audio +0.4%
• OOH 5.2%
• Pure play digital video 24.8%
• Paid search 14.2%
• Social media 27.2%

2020 Political and Other Ad Spending

While local TV media spending may have suffered in 2019, 2020 will be a different story. MAGNA analysts predict local TV advertising will continue to be the top channel for candidates seeking to connect with voters at all levels of the election cycle. We can also expect that political ad buyers will be allocating more money to digital video and social media formats. 

The other main cyclical boost to ad spending in 2020 will be the Olympics in Tokyo. Most advertising for this event will occur at the national TV revenue. However, that growth, combined with the super-​charged election cycle, should be significant enough to offset a more sobering reality in 2020: Macro-​economic indicators point to a slowing in the key advertising verticals of automotive, retail and finance. In 2020, the growth rate for the overall ad market will likely be 3.8%.

Media sales reps should be talking up their services and formats now for 2020. You can check out the AudienceSCAN profiles for many types of voters on AdMall from SalesFuel.