• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 27, 2023

The U.S. ad market expanded for its fourth consecutive month in October, rising 3.2% over October 2022, according to just-updated data from Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker.

It was the biggest gain since July's 6.2% gain, and is an indicator that the ad spending from the major agency holding companies and biggest independent media agencies has pulled out of recession -- at least for now.

The market update comes a week ahead of next Monday's year-end updates and forecasts from the Big 3 agency holding company forecasting units -- GroupM's, IPG Mediabrands' Magna, and Publicis Media's Zenith -- and likely is a net positive indicator despite continuing geopolitical and macro economic uncertainties.

Interestingly, October's expansion was relatively equal among the top 10 ad categories (+3.3%) as it was among all other ad categories (+3.1%).