WI SUPREME COURT RACE SETS AD SPENDING RECORD

If you live in Wisconsin, you don’t need us to tell you there were a lot of ads for the State Supreme Court race—about $67 million worth (and that tally is from a week before last Tuesday’s vote). Interestingly, the Republican side spent more than Democrats, but the latter broadcast over 1,600 more spots. How? Candidates’ official campaigns get lower unit costs than outside groups, and Democrat-supported Susan Crawford’s team outspent the Republican-backed Brad Schimel’s. Unless any special elections are needed, it looks like the Badger State can relax for the rest of the year. (AdImpact: March 26, 2025)

MARCH MADNESS DOWN VS. LAST YEAR, STILL HIGHER THAN 2023

For the first time since 2008, the NCAA Men’s Final Four will be nothing but No. 1 seeds, and the Elite Eight didn’t have any teams lower than No. 10. Without a real Cinderella story, the Elite Eight games averaged 9 million viewers across CBS, TBS, and truTV. That’s a 10 percent decrease versus last year (which had the advantage of concluding on Easter Sunday) but a four percent uptick from 2023.  On the women’s side, the average viewership of 367,000 across all games is down 22% compared to last year. Caitlin Clark-fueled high—when the Women’s final drew a larger TV audience than the Men’s—but it’s still up an incredible 43% from 2023, continuing the sport’s upward trend. (Front Office Sports: April 1, 2025; MarketWatch: March 28, 2025)

NIELSEN’S NEW MEASUREMENT: AN UPFRONT MONKEY-WRENCH

The media industry’s adoption of Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement is set to disrupt this year’s Upfront negotiations. Buyers and sellers will likely dispute how to address year-to-year price changes when the 2024-25 plans primarily used Nielsen’s legacy methodologies. The new metric’s viewership boosts won’t be consistent across dayparts, requiring different and complicated CPM adjustments for each client—and possibly each brand. Add to this the fact that 2024 was an outlier, given the huge political spends, and we’re likely to see negotiations drag well into the summer. (AdAge: March 31, 2025)

TARIFFS ALSO POISED TO DISRUPT AD SPENDING

Automotive tariffs kicked in at midnight last night, putting one of the biggest advertising categories into question. The 25% tariff is estimated to increase car prices anywhere from 10-15%. Carmakers reduced their ad spends coming out of the pandemic, which poses yet another challenge that could reduce their media budgets—which were already down 5% in 2024. Also at risk of tariffs: the pharmaceutical industry spent $4 billion on national and local TV last year. A caveat: in recent months, tariffs have been announced and quickly rescinded; by the time you read this, things may have changed again. (MediaPost: March 31, 2025)

TODAY IN VIDEO HISTORY

April 3, 2010 – The Eleventh Doctor Debuts Taking the baton—or rather the sonic screwdriver—from David Tennant, actor Matt Smith made his first appearance as Doctor Who. In the first episode of Season Five (Series Five, as they call it in the UK), the Doctor crashes the TARDIS, meets a young girl, accidentally disappears for 12 years during what was supposed to be a five-minute trip, and returns to find that the girl is now a woman (played by Karen Gillan, also in her DW debut) who is none too pleased. Together, they deal with an escaped alien prisoner and prevent the Atraxi from destroying Earth. Today is also Fish Fingers and Custard Day in honor of the good doctor. IYKYK.