IAB Finds Second-Half Ad Spending Better Than Planned, Full-Year Significantly Worse (mediapost.com)

The U.S. Ad Market Tracker rose 2.5% in May -- the first expansion in 11 months. The expansion compares with the year-ago period that was only up modestly and is the best May since Standard Media Index began tracking it. The growth is the first material sign that the U.S. ad marketplace is pulling out of a recession that began in July 2022, based on the SMI data, which is derived from a pool of actual ad spending processed by the major agency holding companies and independent media services agencies.

What a year! 2020 has been rough on a lot of people, and a huge catalyst for change. It’s changed where and how we work, how we talk to our customers, and especially the way customers shop and interact with brands as distance shopping has become critical. We wanted to take a minute to share the posts that our blog readers have visited the most in the past year. While not every article here was written in last year, their popularity proves that they are more timely and relevant than ever – even in the changing consumer landscape. see more at: https://www.jschmid.com/2020-reader-favorites/

As part of its ongoing mission to ensure consumers are given a clear choice in how they receive essential information — on paper or digitally — and that they are not charged extra for paper bills and statements, Keep Me Posted (KMP) North America is investigating how large corporations are addressing consumer needs and expectations. Most recently, KMP looked at the billing practices of the top 10 Fortune 500 telecommunications companies to see how they align with KMP’s best practices for essential communications, which include: *No charges or other penalties for choosing paper bills *Prior consumer consent required before ceasing to send paper documents *No change in paper bill frequency without prior agreement *No difficulty to revert back to paper correspondence *Continued access to online options. The good news is that eight of America’s top 10 telecommunications conglomerates put their customers’ communication preferences first, do so without fees and make information on their practices easily accessible.