As the advertising industry rounds into the back half of the year, Adweek spoke with a dozen revenue executives at premium publishers to get a sense of the next six months.

The first two quarters of 2023 have been, largely, brutal, as uncertainty from advertisers has forced publishers to seek cost-savings in cuts, reductions and closures. 

While demand for open-market programmatic has faltered, publishers have compensated by investing in their custom offerings, working collaboratively with fewer clients on more integrated campaigns.

Overall, the outlook remains conservative, with bright spots like the resurgence of auto advertising counterbalanced by emerging concerns over generative AI and privacy disruptions.

Resetting expectations

Compared to the same time last year, media executives are optimistic about the ad market in the coming months.

The chief bogeymen that concerned marketers last summer—the war in Ukraine, the threat of a U.S. recession and lockdown protocols in China—have settled into more manageable concerns, said Condé Nast global chief revenue officer Pamela Drucker Mann.

Still, few publishers expect the uptick to compensate for the past six months. But demand varies wildly by category and publisher.

I’m not expecting that optimism to turn into business in the second half of 2023.

Jason Wagenheim, CRO at Bustle Digital Group

For instance, The Atlantic, whose advertising revenue for the first half of 2023 stayed flat year over year, booked more business in June than it has since 2018, according to publisher Alice McKown. And at The Guardian U.S., the company finished its fiscal year—ending in March—with advertising revenue up 40%, according to senior vice president of advertising Luis Romero.

Other publishers, however, have been forced to re-forecast in light of continued softness in ad demand, especially ones that rely on traffic from social platforms or work primarily with technology and financial service brands.

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