Most Ad Execs Project A Second Wave Of Pandemic Cuts Later This Year, Weak Signals For Upfront

Three-quarters of ad executives plan to cut the remainder of their 2020 ad spending by 5% or more due specifically to the impact of the pandemic. That's one of the findings of an annual survey of 40 ad executives representing more than $90 billion in annual ad spending, published this week by the equities research team at UBS.

"Unsurprisingly, expectations for forward spend also skew materially more negative than positive," UBS analyst John Hodulik writes in the report, adding that "of those that expect to see some impact on forward 2020 spend, 74% expect to see a negative impact."

That is virtually identical to the impact the health crisis has already had on their year-to-date ad spending, suggesting the fallout for the ad market is far from over.

While the respondents indicated relative strength for maintaining their TV ad spending vs. other media, the consensus does not bode well for the 2020-21 upfront advertising marketplace, with more than half of respondents projecting they will cut their upfront ad budgets for next year by 5% or more, and about the same percentage projecting 2020-21 upfront CPMs will be flat or down vs. last year.

1 comment about "Most Ad Execs Project A Second Wave Of Pandemic Cuts Later This Year, Weak Signals For Upfront".
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  1. John Grono from GAP Research, April 7, 2020 at 6:10 p.m.

    Leavimg aside the small sample base, it appears as though the "How much will your remaining 2020 ad spend be impacted?"" and the "How much has your year-to-date ad spend been impacted" graphs appear to be identical.

    Maybe there was an error in the graphsn provided.   Or maybe the data was identical (which would be odd).   Or maybe the 40 ad executives didn't really know or really care and 'straight-lined' their answers.

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