Digital Advertising Slump The New Signal Of An Upcoming Recession?

Digital Advertising Slump The New Signal Of An Upcoming Recession?

For decades, a decline in local advertising was an early warning sign of an upcoming recession, with local ad sales typically declining as much as a year in advance of national ad sales. The reason is clear; national ad campaigns take a lot of time and money to prepare and monitor. Local businesses (think of your local car dealer or supermarket), on the other hand, are quick to feel a decline in revenues and can simply pick up the phone and cancel all upcoming advertising. However, the times they are a changing. Digital ad sales declines may now become the early warning sign that we are about to enter the next economic slump. That's the view of many on Wall Street after Snap's CEO on May 23 surprised many analysts with a bearish outlook on ad sales for Q2, something which is likely to be announced at other online companies relying heavily on advertising sales such as Alphabet GOOGL Inc.'s Google GOOG , Meta's Facebook, Pinterest and others. Speaking at JP Morgan's 50th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference 2022 on May 23 in a Q&A Session with JPMorgan Chase & Company Managing Director and Internet Analyst, Snap Co-founder,