Two-Thirds Of Ad Execs Anticipate Lower 2021 Ad Budgets Due To Pandemic


More than two-thirds (68% of ad executives say they expect their ad spending for 2021 to be reduced due to the impact of COVID-19, but the most pronounced impact will be on the second quarter of this year, according to findings of a survey of more than 200 advertisers and agency executives conducted by Advertiser Perceptions last week.

The survey, part of a more extensive report and the first in a series of tracking studies planned to be released every two weeks, is one of the first and most comprehensive to look at how the pandemic is impacting advertisers personally, as well as professionally.

Professionally, Advertiser Perceptions analysts participating in a webinar this afternoon said the industry was caught completely off-guard by the impact of the pandemic, but effect on the ad industry has been immediate and pronounced with ad budgets already being significantly impacted in the first quarter, though the second quarter currently is expected to be the one affected most severely (see chart above).

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While the impact of the health crisis and the shift in consumer behaviors toward "social-distancing" has been immediate and pronounced, it has not necessarily been uniform or entirely negative.

Only a third (34%) of ad executives said they've actually canceled a planned ad campaign, and only 45% said they pulled a current campaign, because of the crisis. Half (49%), meanwhile, say they have delayed a campaign until later in the year, while nearly the same percentage (48%) have "adjusted" their media mix or shifted their ad budgets among media because of it.

See a recording of the presentation here:

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