2022 Media Ad Sales Pricing & Yield Trend Report: Key Insights for Success

Key Findings

1.“Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years”

After years of challenges and headwinds, digital media companies came roaring back with a median growth rate of 49% in 2021. The pandemic accelerated consumer trends to digital media consumption which advertisers rewarded with a spike of ad dollars. The digital ad market is expected to grow by 13-17% in 2022 (by Magna), so it will be interesting to see if and how media companies will continue to capture the opportunity.

2.Happy Customers Spend More - what’s your NARR?

Many media companies have a leaky bucket of client spend contraction and churn. Oftentimes they’re losing 20-40% of their existing client revenue year over year. Those that retain a higher amount of revenue are growing above market rates. Net Advertising Revenue Retention (NARR) is a SAAS play metric for media companies to get control of the leaky buck-et. All digital media companies should be asking, “what’s my NARR” and “how do I compare”?

3.Soaring Digital Demand is a Boon for Pricing

Not only did the digital ad market expand in 2021, prices went up as well. The traditional IO channel showed modest 6% growth and publishers expect overall IO spend to grow in 2022. Perhaps programmatic hasn’t eaten the IO world yet. Programmatic Guaranteed & Preferred Deal CPMs from GAM are up 13% and traditional PMP CPMs grew by 16%. The programmatic story is nuanced, not all categories are enjoying price increases as adoption and demand varies amongst buyers.

4.Podcasts prove skeptics wrong!

While many wondered if podcasts would suffer as more consumers worked from home, the opposite is proving true. The US podcast market grew 38% last year and expected to exceed $2 billion in 2022 according to Insider Intelligence. Podcasters have seen stable CPMs with audience growth and ad-product innovation as priorities for growth.

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