While overall U.S. ad spending fell 8% in February vs. the same month a year ago, some
key categories showed healthy spending gains -- especially consumer packaged goods and pharma, according to an analysis released this week by Standard Media Index.
That's the good news. The
bad news is that eight of the 12 key categories analyzed by SMI declined in February.
The other two continuing to expand were restaurants (+4%) and travel (+2%), which coincidentally were two
of the hardest-hit during the ad recession sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The biggest decliners in February were tech (-29%), entertainment/media (-25%), wellness (-24%), and financial
services (-22%).
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