• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 9, 2023

Despite increasing uncertainty about the economy coming out of 2022, the vast majority of ad executives planned to either keep their 2023 ad budgets the same (54%) or increase them (30%), according to findings of a study conducted by Advertiser Perceptions.

Only 10% of the 300-plus advertisers and media agency executives surveyed in December 2022 said they planned to reduce their 2023 ad budgets, while 6% said they were not sure.

Interestingly, advertisers indicated they were more optimistic about their "business climate" for the first quarter of this year than agency executives.

While 37% of all respondents said they were more optimistic about their business in the first quarter, advertisers were 21% more optimistic than their agency counterparts.

In terms of expectations for their media mixes, 59% of ad execs said they planned to shift to "higher-performing" media, while 38% said they were shifting toward ad strategies that generate customer loyalty.

Other major shifts highlighted in the findings include:

• 43% reallocating to social media.

• 29% reallocating to CTV.

• Traditional media channels remain the most vulnerable to macroeconomic-related budget cuts, with out-of-home, print and linear TV being most vulnerable.