Programmatic advertising is in a strange state. User engagement is high as ever with higher consumption of media, yet at the same time, demand from advertisers has been record-low, explains Andrew Casale at AdAge. Budgets have been cut and ad categories paused. In April, we saw this result in an overall drop in programmatic spend, but now as the economy reopens, that initial slump has rebounded.
All 50 states have reopened and consumers are starting to come out of the woods. Morgan Stanley economists are predicting a V-shaped recovery for the economy, but we aren’t there yet. We are still navigating uncertainty. Despite many unknowns, we do have ad data across industries. When we look at the ad dollars—even in industries that have been hit hard—we see that some sectors are having a come back.
Let’s just say that the video game industry is not hurting this year. No matter how you look at the numbers, business is looking good. Microsoft’s Game Pass surpassed 10 million users in April. Nintendo’s Switch console sales were up 24% year-over-year. Twitch’s number of gaming hours increased 50% between March and April.
B2B websites saw a 17% MoM increase in the number of advertisers running ads on their sites in May. This is a hopeful number considering that roughly 8% fewer companies were placing digital ads on B2B websites initially. As the economy reopens, it seems that advertisers are beginning to stabilize.
As we’ve transitioned to a new normal, what we’re interested in buying has changed.
The beginning of 2020 was looking strong for B2B companies — until March 15th. That’s when we saw major changes in B2B advertising. Last week, our CEO Todd Krizelman hosted a webinar to give an insider’s look into the current state of B2B advertising.
