Marketing Briefing: Why marketers aren’t focused solely on ‘use it or lose it’ spending in Q4 anymore

This time of year, it used to be a regular occurrence for ad buyers to be tasked with spending the year’s leftover ad dollars as marketers feared that if they didn’t use it now they’d lose it next year. That led to some “irrational budget dumping” in the past. But across the last two, as marketers have moved to more quarter-by-quarter planning cycles and zeroed in on performance marketing, the practice is a lot less commonplace. 

When it does happen, the requests are typically coming from major marketers whose ad spend is likely north of $300 million-$400 million annually, according to one media buyer who requested anonymity. The rule of thumb is that the bigger the marketing spend the more likely it is the end-of-year burn off will occur. 

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