What does seasonality mean for ads?
Sometime, you’ll read about or hear people bring up seasonality when it comes to ad revenue. But what does it mean - and more importantly, what does it mean for your site?
Understanding the Fiscal Year
Businesses run on what’s called a fiscal year - so that they can create a budget. For some businesses it can start at other times of the year - but for advertising, it matches up with the calendar year. The Fiscal Year as we know it begins January 1st and ends December 31.
Each year is split up into four quarters. Brands will split up their budgets between these four quarters. And often will pull back money from earlier quarters. And in Q4, because they’ll need to use all their budget, they’ll often use anything left over for their ad buys!
Q1: January 1 - March 31
Q2: April 1 - June 30
Q3: July 1 - September 30
Q4: October 1 - December 31
So when we talk about seasonality - it’s not unlike talking about the seasons of the year. Just like spring and summer offer you different things, so does each fiscal quarter.
How does this affect me?
In the industry, we typically see spending rise and fall over the year. Not just from the start of the year to the end of the year, but even a smaller drop at the start of each new fiscal quarter!
Make sure that when creating your own business model, you keep this in mind. What you made in December is not what you’ll see in January.
So if you’re looking at growth, compare it to the year prior! Often that will give you a better idea how you’re doing - month against month, or quarter against quarter!
Let’s take a look at the year!
Q1.
January - ad inventory and the rates associated with them will be at the lowest. Since brands now have a new budget for the entire year, they tend to put most of the year’s budget in Q4 for holiday buys. So you’ll see things reset. Be prepared to see some blanks (when no ads load at all) or ads that might seem a little less interesting.
Over the rest of the quarter, you’ll start to see your revenue rise - and see ads fill more regularly!
You definitely will see a bump in ads around the Super Bowl, too!
To put on your to-do list: January makes for a great time to try something new with your ad layout. We recommend adjusting placements and focusing on your viewability scores - not just the revenue. The higher your viewability scores, the better success you’ll have as the year goes on.
If you were thinking about rebranding or redesigning, this is the best time to do it!
Q2.
When April rolls around, don’t be surprised if you see a slight dip in revenue. Not only are there budgets for the year, but for each fiscal quarter. So often we’ll see little dips at the start of a quarter. But it will pick up again as the weeks go on.
There are usually bursts in advertising for Easter, Mother’s Day, Graduations and Father’s Day
Q3.
You’ll often see a dip in revenue and ad fill come July 1st - but it will quickly begin to pick back up.
Things to keep in mind: This is a great time to consider some premium ad placements. Try video, some larger banners. These are the types of things that will help you really take advantage of all the Q4 has to offer - but you can use this quarter to find the best placements and see how your audience feels about it.
Some peaks for advertising come with the Fourth of July as well as Labor Day and Back to School
Q4.
This is the highest earning of all quarters, peaking from Thanksgiving to Christmas!
We like to remind publishers to make sure they set aside some of their earnings for the leaner months ahead.
Also, do not make any major changes with your site. Things like rebrands or redesigns can negatively impact your organic traffic, hurting your audience and your ability to make the most possible!
If you have any questions at all about seasonality - don’t hesitate to ask the SHE Media Collective’s Support team at support@shemedia.com