Digital ad spending will continue growing strongly across all industries we track. Retail will remain the biggest, while auto will continue to struggle at the back of the pack.

The news: President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order against alleged “debanking,” claiming that JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America discriminated against him by rejecting his company's deposits, per The New York Times. The fallout: Some FIs may alter their risk management practices to avoid a personal vendetta. But by mandating that banks cannot debank certain groups for fear of being accused of political bias, the order essentially limits their ability to manage risk. This could expose FIs to clients with legitimate compliance or reputational concerns. It also forces FIs to choose between political and financial blowback and carries a long-term risk of losing young, socially conscious customers. Gen Zers particularly care about banks’ actions when it comes to what they deem as moral issues, like the environment or DEI. Diverting from prior commitments young consumers supported could risk their loyalty.

The president’s organization has accused Capital One of debanking based on ‘wokeness.’

Meta and Roblox show how teen safety has become a priority: A year of heavy scrutiny from regulators has prompted similar platforms to overhaul protections.

The FTC says ad industry self-regulation has failed: A lengthy report criticizes how advertisers collect and spread user data without proper consent.

Consumers may be concerned about the economy, but the outlook is good for ad spend in the final months of 2024. The share of advertisers concerned about a slowing US economy dropped 11 percentage points (from 49% to 38%) between November 2023 and August 2024, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Retail media’s popularity, an influx of value-based messaging, high political ad spend, and connected TV (CTV) monetization will boost the ad industry the rest of 2024.

The first $12 billion ad spend US presidential election is underway. That ad spend figure breaks 2020’s by more than $2 billion. Whether or not brands engage in political messaging, they will be impacted by the volume of ad inventory and how the election influences consumer sentiment.

With its shift to digital, political advertising is increasingly programmatic. US digital political ad spend will grow by 156.3% this year over 2020, the last presidential election year. That growth outpaces the 28.7% growth overall US political ad spend will see, as noted in our US Political Ad Spending Forecast 2024 report.

Political ad spend will hit $12.32 billion this year, according to our December 2023 forecast. That’s nearly three times what it was in 2016.

It’s an election year in the US, one where we’ll see record-breaking political ad spend. While political advertising is often viewed as a separate game from other industries, the trends set by campaigns ripple into the rest of the marketing atmosphere. What will 2024’s version of Nixon and Kennedy navigating live TV or Obama embracing social media be, and what will be the impact on the ad industry at large? Here are five trends all advertisers should be watching.

Over half (55%) of US adults think that businesses should take a public stance on climate change, per May 2023 data from Bentley University and Gallup. Nearly as many (52%) think companies should take a stand on mental health.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss why regulators changed their mind on approving the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, how the gaming industry will react, and what the deal means for advertisers. "In Other News," we talk about how much of political ad spending has gone digital and how Google is tightening the reins on bulk email senders. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Daniel Konstantinovic and Gadjo Sevilla.

Gen Zers in the US want their brands to support mental health more than any other cause, cited by 53% of those surveyed by ICSC and Big Village. Tied for second place are environmental causes, including climate change and sustainability, and racial and gender equity (47% each).

Among US citizens ages 18 and older, 60% feel there should be political ad spending limits for groups not affiliated with political candidates. Only 16% think their spending should remain unlimited.

US-China conflict over chips intensifies: AMD and Nvidia stocks plunge on reports of new government sales restrictions of chips to China and Russia. US chipmakers could be forced to abandon potential sales.

Values are important, but just one of many drivers. Consumer behavior is also influenced by factors such as price, convenience, and availability of products.

US political advertisers will splash out $8.8 billion on video in 2022, close to the record $9.5 billion spent in 2020, despite this year marking a midterm rather than presidential election.

Mark Jablonowski, managing partner and CTO of DSPolitical, explains how precise to get with targeting for political campaigns.