• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 21, 2016

On the eve of 2016-17 upfront network TV negotiations, demand in the U.S. ad marketplace continues to expand -- for all media -- according to May results of the monthly U.S. Ad Market Tracker. The tracker -- an index derived from actual media buys processed by the majority of big agency holding companies compiled by Standard Media Index and published by MediaPost -- turned in its best May ever, posting an index of 220. That’s a 22-point gain over April and a 17-point gain over May 2015.

According to SMI, total media spending among the agencies it tracks rose 8% in May vs. the same month a year ago.

Next to out-of-home media, which expanded 29% in May, digital continued to be the fastest-rising of the major media, growing 15% over May 2015.

Print media, including newspapers (-8%) and magazines (-2%), continued to erode in spending, while TV ad expenditures expanded 4%.

Much of the growth in the U.S. ad economy appears to be coming from the biggest advertisers. The index for the top 10 product categories expanded 20 points over May 2015, while the index for all other ad categories fell one index point.