U.S. ad spending fell 3.1% in August, marking the second consecutive monthly year-over-year decline, according to just updated data from Guideline’s U.S. Ad Market Index. Both July (-4.8%) compare
with days of Olympics coverage on NBCUniversal, which typically includes incremental ad spending. While discrete data for NBCU is not available via the market index, national TV ad spending fell
20.2% in August, and 25.0% in July compared with the same months in 2024, though the medium likely also benefitted from a surge presidential election year political ad spending. While August’s and
July’s declines reflect tough year-over-year comparisons, ad spending growth has been decelerating in the months leading up to them.