• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 29, 2024

The U.S. ad market expanded for its 12th consecutive month in March -- rising 4.3% over March 2023 -- according to the latest monthly installment of Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker.

Smaller ad categories outpaced the growth of the top categories by a margin of nearly four-to-one. While the top 10 increased spending only 1.9% over March 2023, all other categories expanded 7.9%.

March's growth was also due to a massive increase in digital vs. traditional media ad spending.

While digital ad spending rose 15.7%, traditional media declined 13.6% year-over-year.

As a result, digital's share of total U.S. ad spending shot up seven percentage points to 68% -- up from 61% in March 2023.

National TV ad spending fell 7.4% year-over-year.