Ad Prices Forecast To Inflate 3% This Year

Following a year of rollbacks for most major media, ad prices are poised to inflate an average of 3.0% worldwide this year, according to a forecast released this morning by ECI Media Management.

The increases, which range from as much as 3.6% for high demand medium digital video, to a decrease of 2.3% for magazines, reflects longer-term systemic media supply-and-demand patterns for the ad industry.

While ECI did not release explicit numbers for U.S. ad price inflation, it appears to be rising at a slightly higher rate than the global average, based on a graphic representation in ECI's charts (see below).

"North America was one of the regions hardest hit by pandemic, experiencing a large reduction in advertising investment and sending all traditional media into a deflationary position, with digital only just remaining inflationary," ECI notes in its report, adding "In 2021 all media is expected to see some recovery from 2020 levels, although print will remain deflationary in the region. Out-of-home, in particular, will bounce back sharply, seeing the largest increase in inflation levels across the year, up to 6.8% and significantly above its 2019 position. Digital will see less dramatic increases in price."


U.S. Ad Price Inflation/Deflation: 2019-2021

2 comments about "Ad Prices Forecast To Inflate 3% This Year".
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  1. Thomas Hickey from Northampton Consulting, February 18, 2021 at 10:50 a.m.

    Hey Joe - any idea how 2021 compares to 2019? It's not surprising to see that with increasing demand, pricing is expected to increase over 2020. Curious to see what the increase is versus a "normal" year. Thanks.

  2. Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., February 18, 2021 at 10:59 a.m.

    Great question, Thomas. Unfortunately, ECI did not release explicit numbers, but there are a couple of eyeball charts you can look at to get an idea. I pasted one for the U.S. at the bottom of this story and it looks like 2021 will be about two-thirds of 2019.

    You can see other eye charts for worldwide, etc., here:

    https://bit.ly/2OLsksZ

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