Digital Ad CPM Benchmark | A Look at the Predictable Ad Surges

The unexpected shocks are damaging, but how about the expected surges? Adsure measured YoY changes in advertising prices for the top e-commerce holidays to determine forecasting ability and its impact on advertisers ROI. While Black Friday saw consistent year-over-year price surges, Cyber Monday averaged 23 points higher in 2019 vs prior year, leading to significant, unexpected losses for advertisers. Prime Day proved to be less expensive, but showed a staggeringly-high forecast error of nearly 50 points vs prior year, demonstrating that even the most predictable demand surges remain impossible to forecast accurately and have negative impact on overall business performance.