Commentary

What Is Your Personal Data's Share Of Media Spending?


After years of erosion, ad industry spending is beginning to gain share vs. the money consumers pay directly for media, especially in the U.S.

On Friday, we reported on the release of PQ Media’s 2019 consumer media spending estimates, showing that they lagged advertising growth last year. But the U.S. …

3 comments about "What Is Your Personal Data's Share Of Media Spending?".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, February 10, 2020 at 9:57 a.m.

    Joe, one of the obvious factors involved in these trend comparisons is the growth of digital "media" spending---buying smartphones, tablets, etc. and ad-free---until recently--- subscriber spending for SVOD services. Which raises many questions. For, example, if Amazon Prime  is counted as "media" spending this may inflate the numbers as an unknown but fairly large number of these subs---myself, as a case in point---do it only for the free shipping. The same thing applies to smartphones. Much of their use is for traditional activities not associated with media or advertising, yet the full amount is probably credited to "media" spending. A fairer comparison might attempt to estimate the percent of the spending that reflects actual usage for accessing and consuming media content---like movies, videos, etc. That will be a tough one to deal with, however.

  2. Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., February 10, 2020 at 10:15 a.m.

    @Ed Papazian: Fairer to whom? From a consumer's POV, it's real money they're paying to access media

  3. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, February 10, 2020 at 12:19 p.m.

    Joe, this reminds me of what happened around 1979-89. Before that, a typical household had to buy a new TV set every 5-8 years, maintain it,  and, perhaps, in a few cases, errect a special antenna for long distance reception---and that was it. Maybe $200 per year, per home, maybe less. When cable arrived on the scene, in short order subscribers were paying anywhere from $700 -$1200 per year to get all of those new channels as well as far better reception for their TV's. Then came the VCR revolution, whereby we cound rent Hollywood's best, plus all sorts of other stuff, for $5-10 a throw. I don't have the exact stats, but in the space of a decade, the average consumer's "TV" access bill probably increased ten- fold ---but advertising dollars continued to grow at a far lower and the usual steady pace, as if consumer spending wasn't a factor---we just got used to a new system. I suspect that the same thing is happening now. Just a thought, not a criticism.

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About the Author

Joe Mandese is the Editor in Chief of MediaPost. You can reach Joe at joe@mediapost.com.

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