• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 27, 2024

The U.S. ad market expanded at its greatest rate in nearly two years in February -- increasing 10.4% over February 2023, according to the latest monthly installment of Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker.

February also was the 11th consecutive month to post growth, providing a further indication that the U.S. ad economy is well out of recession.

February also was the first double-digit expansion since March 2022's 11.3% gain, which preceded a downward trend that manifested in recession beginning in July 2022 and ended eight months later when the U.S. ad market began expanding again in April 2023.

The data is another strong indicator of upward momentum for ad spending as the U.S. accelerates what is expected to be a banner year in political ad spending, as well as tentpole events including the Paris Olympic Games.

Politics aside, analysts have been sending positive signals for nominal ad-spending growth. On Monday, Madison and Wall's Brian Wieser published his second upward revision for U.S. ad spending this year, excluding political.

Much of this February's growth was due to increased spending by smaller categories. While the top 10 ad categories expanded spending 7.4%, all other categories grew at twice that rate: 14.7%.