Coronavirus Continues to Impact Ad Spend

Given the overwhelming response to last week’s newsletter on Coronavirus’ impact on ad spend, we’ve continued our industry analysis. Expanding on verticals, we’ve focused on select advertisers as well. Our findings compare the first week of March 2020 to that of February 2020. 

Today’s data is through March 9th. As major announcements on March 11th (cancelling most sporting events, Travel Ban, etc) mark a turning point in the public response to the virus, we will be tracking further impact on the market. For those interested, we are offering a deeper dive via a webinar next Friday at 2pm EST. Please sign up via this link to reserve your spot. This is only available to BMX customers.

March 2020 vs. February 2020

• Finance decreased 36%, dropping from 15th to 24th. 

  • Capital One decreased 30% and E-Trade decreased 32%. This may be attributed to recent market volatility.

• Credit & Lending decreased 30%, falling from 10th to 14th.

  • Rock Holdings (Quicken Loans and Lower My Bills) decreased 23%.

• Food & Grocery dropped from 27th to 32nd, decreasing 20%. 

  • The Kroger Co. decreased 23%. We anticipate this vertical to increase in the next few weeks. 

• Consumer Goods grew 23% and is now 21st up from 26th.

  • The largest mover was Unilever which increased 335%. We expect this vertical to grow as well.

• Interestingly, Travel increased 26%, growing from 14 to 11.

  • Expedia increased 24%. We suspect this vertical will decrease moving forward. 

• Government increased 169%, from 33rd to 10th.

  • U.S. Government was the biggest mover, growing 150%.

* The data in this email compares programmatic advertiser industry performance, running through STAQ systems for March 2019, February 2020, and March 2020.