• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 27, 2023

The U.S. ad market expanded for the eighth consecutive month in November -- albeit at mostly modest rates, according to a revised analysis of Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker.

The tracker, an index of U.S. ad spending derived from actual media buys processed by 12 of the largest U.S. agencies' -- including the six major agency holding companies and major independent media services -- billing systems.

Guideline's pool of data, which is weighted toward big national advertisers, is dynamic and captures billing records including any reconciliations over time, such as makegoods, audience deficiency units, bonus weight and other factors that may take a month or longer to reconcile fully.

Going forward, MediaPost will published this revised historical analysis provided by Guideline to provide the most accurate current view of final monthly estimates (see above).

"Billings settle over time," Guideline explains, referring to the reconciliation of historical data as "bounce."

"The most recent months are prone to more movement, while older periods are more stable," Guideline's analysts explain, citing the dynamic nature of government estimates for employment and/or GDP data as examples of comparable economic data that reconciles over time.

The analysts note that unlike the stock market where "trades are locked" when shares are bought and sold, "retroactive billings reconciliation represents a standard media industry practice."