Advertising & PR Industry Revenue
Total revenue for NAICS 5418 — advertising, public relations, and related services — from the Census Bureau's Quarterly Services Survey. It is the best freely available proxy for the health of the ad economy: when companies spend on marketing, this industry's revenue rises. (It captures agency/PR revenue, not total media ad spend, which is private Magna/GroupM data.)
After inflation: +1.8% (Q2 2026, CPI-adjusted)
Ad/PR revenue YoY %
- Ad/PR revenue / qtr
- $59B
Next release: Nov 19, 2026
Latest reading
As of Q2 2026, Ad Revenue (Ad/PR revenue YoY %) stands at 5.7% — up from 3.6% the prior reading, 17.4 pp below the Q2 2021 record of 23.1%. After inflation, advertising and PR revenue rose 1.8% over the year to Q2 2026. Advertising is one of the first budgets companies cut when they turn defensive and one of the first they restore in a recovery, so the year-over-year growth rate is a sensitive, slightly cyclical read on corporate confidence and discretionary spending. Sustained deceleration often coincides with a broader pullback in business activity. Series history runs from 2004 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessCensus Quarterly Services Survey via FRED (REV5418TMSA), quarterly · Quarterly, with every releaseData as of 2026-04-01 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
Year-over-year %
Quarter-over-quarter %
The latest-quarter change in ad/PR revenue — the higher-frequency momentum read behind the year-over-year proxy.
Dollar level
Quarterly revenue of the advertising and PR services industry in dollars — the raw size of the ad economy behind the year-over-year proxy above.
Real revenue growth
Advertising and PR agency revenue after CPI inflation, against the same period a year earlier. Below zero, it lost ground to prices. Quarterly readings use the average CPI of their quarter.
Deflated by CPI-U (BLS), matched by month; the latest months appear once CPI is published.
Methodology & data
Ad Revenue is sourced from Census via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Census Quarterly Services Survey via FRED (REV5418TMSA), quarterly). We pull the complete history, chart it on a quarterly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date. Latest observation 2026-04-01; site refreshed 2026-10-08. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Advertising & PR Industry Revenue?
Total revenue for NAICS 5418 — advertising, public relations, and related services — from the Census Bureau's Quarterly Services Survey. It is the best freely available proxy for the health of the ad economy: when companies spend on marketing, this industry's revenue rises. (It captures agency/PR revenue, not total media ad spend, which is private Magna/GroupM data.)
How do you read Ad Revenue?
Advertising is one of the first budgets companies cut when they turn defensive and one of the first they restore in a recovery, so the year-over-year growth rate is a sensitive, slightly cyclical read on corporate confidence and discretionary spending. Sustained deceleration often coincides with a broader pullback in business activity.
Where does the Ad Revenue data come from?
Census Quarterly Services Survey via FRED (REV5418TMSA), quarterly. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/advertising-revenue.csv.
How often is Ad Revenue updated?
Ad Revenue is a quarterly series from Census, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
After inflation: +1.8% (Q2 2026, CPI-adjusted)
Ad/PR revenue YoY %
- Ad/PR revenue / qtr
- $59B
Next release: Nov 19, 2026