• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 14, 2016

After crashing in January, broadcast advertising costs rose to their highest February since 2013, pushing overall ad costs up for the national TV marketplace in the second month of 2016. Cable ad costs, meanwhile, seesawed slightly, showing downward momentum on a month-to-month basis.

Overall TV advertising costs rose seven index points in the Real Costs Index, powered by SQAD’s NetCosts service and published by MediaPost -- climbing to a 143 in February from a 134 in January. Year-over-year, national TV ad costs rose 15 points over February 2015 and were the most expensive since 2013.

Broadcast network TV ad prices rebounded 24 points, jumping to an index of 156 in February from a 132 in January, and were up a whopping 42 points from February 2015.

There are many factors driving the relative ad costs of national TV advertising month-to-month and year-over-year, including changes in both supply and demand, and media buyers say the rising relative ad prices may reflect declines in the supply of audience delivery at the major broadcast networks. In other words, they are getting somewhat higher prices on the basis of lower overall volume.

Cable ad costs meanwhile, slid slightly, falling three points from January to an index of 146 in February. Cable ad prices are up eight points over February 2015 and delivered their highest February ad prices since SQAD began tracking the medium.