Crazy as it may sound, the advertising marketplace is keeping its cool for the most part in the face of a series of events that historically would have set it off in a tizzy of halted budgets and downward forecasts: a new war, rising oil and gas prices, the return of tariffs and generally slumping consumer confidence.
Basically, market and economic uncertainty are simply the new normal, according to a canvassing of holding company and independent media agency executives and consultants. Budgets are largely staying put — for now — thanks not only to this being just the latest potential economic crisis to land on the shoulders of the global economy but also to the fact that media sellers offer so much more flexibility today that instant pullback is just no longer necessary. (We all get used to things, no matter how negative they can be, if they happen to us often enough.)
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