Reuters
After a challenging 2022 in which advertising-dependent companies faced shrinking budgets and cratering stock prices, fourth-quarter results this week from Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Snap showed they were not yet in the clear. The health of the advertising industry closely mirrors the economy, and many advertisers have pared back their marketing budgets in response to record-high inflation rates and continued uncertainty about a recession. "While many people do not believe we will see that serious a recession, weaker sentiment among corporates has been enough to already feed into lower spending on digital advertising," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.