• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, May 22, 2013

ChoiceStream, a personalized advertising tech provider, Tuesday released their newest Audience Cost Calendar, which they describe as a "monthly aggregation of impressions traded on digital ad exchanges." The calendar looks at "trends in the cost of various online audiences" relative to one another. A "100" on the index indicates that a particular segment is trading at the average of all segments, a 120 indicates 20% above average, etc. 

The recently released report is an overview of April's data, which shows that Careers: Customer Service was the top performing segment despite an 18% drop in relative cost to reach the segment compared to March. Other top traded audience segments were Travel and Holiday & Events.

In terms of cost of the targeted inventory, eight of the top ten performing segments were travel-based. “In previous Audience Cost Calendar reports it seemed that specific audience segments changed specific to cyclical trends,” stated Bill Guild, vice president, product management and marketing at ChoiceStream. “However, for the past two months, the top ranked segment, Careers: Customer Service, remained consistent. Hopefully this is yet another indication that the economy and job market are recovering. Another indication of a recession turn around is the increased interest in travel and destination specific inventory. Eight of the top ten segments were travel destinations with Italy and Greece in the number two and three spots, respectively.” 

The segments within the Travel segment - the individual locations - were relatively close to one another in terms of cost. Italy (140) rose 11% from March, while Greece (136, 8% increase), South Pacific (135, 1% increase), Spain (133, 6% increase), and Australia/New Zealand (133, 2% increase) rounded out the top five leaders in Travel.

The more ChoiceStream's data is studied, the clearer it becomes just how much of an impact seasonality has. For one, the Travel segment is likely rising as people all around the world gear up for summer vacations. Additionally, the Anniversary segment rose 11% to an index rating of 130, and it would be fair to expect it to remain above average for the coming months - primetime for weddings.

Take a look below for the full infographic.