• by Wayne Friedman , November 28, 2017

Continued gains from digital media -- and virtually unchanged results from national TV -- helped lift the U.S. ad market to a robust 7% hike in October.

Digital media grew 11%, while national TV inched up 1% and radio rose a surprising 16%, Standard Media Index says. On the losing end, out-of-home was down 3%, magazines slid 19%, and newspapers gave up 3%.

For October, telecommunications, automotive and financial insurance marketers were big movers in radio. Year-to-date, radio is down 1%.

This is a sharp improvement from September’s weak 1% gain, where digital media gained 5% and total TV lost 1%. For January through October, U.S. advertising is up 4% over the same period a year ago.

After September’s poor national TV results -- broadcast was down 5% and cable lost 2% -- October was steadier. Cable networks gained 3% and broadcast lost 2%.

For the first 10 months of 2017, national TV is down 3%, with cable off 2.5% and broadcast losing 5%.

The 30-second commercials in prime-time entertainment shows from the big four networks declined 4% -- from $116,600 in October 2016 to $111,700 in October 2017.

SMI’s data is derived from actual spending by ad agencies representing approximately 80% of all U.S. agency spend.