News ad spend up 82% in one month; travel down -90%

PubMatic has released global ad spend figures for the month of March, that shows just how drastic ad spend has shifted within four weeks.

The findings are not necessarily surprising: as travel has ground to a halt, ad spend in this category has fallen by a whopping -90% from the first week of March to the final week, while news spend has jumped up 82% as the public seeks more information.

Indeed, the news industry's traffic bump has boosted effective cost per mille (eCPMs) by 132%. While eCPMs have been falling for law, politics and government since the beginning of March, this remains the highest value category.

The data is based on PubMatic's analysis of more than 13 trillion global advertiser bids on a monthly basis. See the full chart below.