US digital ad spending growth will decelerate to 7.8% YoY in 2023, its slowest pace in 14 years. The individual industries we track are generally following the national trend, but the timing and pacing of their slowdowns are playing out differently. For some industries, the outlook is fairly positive.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss when attention metrics might dethrone viewability, why advertisers are tentative about them, and why using attention as a currency is TBD. "In Other News," we talk about Google limiting impressions from "unproven" advertisers and the battle between advertising groups and the "Delete Bill," a California bill that would allow consumers to request advertisers delete their personal information. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

Thanks to a flood of new inventory, some of it in unfamiliar places, CPMs and CTRs have been either flat or declined YoY in each of the past four quarters—with CPMs dropping 29% in Q2 2023 alone—according to Skai.

Google isn’t looking so good as it prepares for trial with the DOJ: A historic antitrust challenge comes as Google is under fire for multiple advertising controversies.

The retail industry commits by far the most dollars to digital advertising in the US. It has accelerated ad spending with above-average growth every year since 2020, fueled by the rising importance of ecommerce and digital channels in the consumer journey. By comparison, online ad spending by most other industries we track has seen far greater fluctuations from year to year over the same period. Retail’s ad spending growth will see sustained growth this year and next before other industries start to catch up on spending in 2025.

Mobile advertising will keep growing at a rapid clip despite headwinds from privacy laws and genAI. Even so, app publishers will explore additional ways of making money for premium content. This may have an impact on the type and price of ad inventory in the future, although the volume of IAA should remain strong.