Major ad forecasters have predicted improved U.S. media spend totals for 2024, citing better business conditions. IPG’s Magna Global, which issues quarterly ad-spend forecasts, said in September that it expects the U.S. ad market to total $377 billion this year, an improvement of 11.4% year over year. Forrester’s 2024 forecast cited 6.6% growth this year to $357.3 billion.

On a worldwide scale, GroupM expects global ad spending to grow 7.8% in 2024 to $989.8 billion, excluding political advertising — a notable bump from its original 5.3% growth forecast. 

The agencies Digiday surveyed for this third-annual media agency report said they’re seeing positive spending among their clients, reinforcing these predictions. More than one-third of agency respondents (36%) said clients increased budgets this year. That’s despite sticky inflation and high borrowing costs putting a damper on consumer spending for at least the first half of the year. 

When it comes to growth within specific media channels, retail media has surged in popularity over the last year, becoming a full-funnel play for many agencies and their clients. At this point, there are more than 200 retail media networks, according to Mimbi, a retail media intelligence platform, and companies seem determined to turn every digital surface into an ad opportunity.

Bearing all of this in mind, Digiday’s 2024 media agency report examines the current and future state of media agencies from the perspective of total client spending and spending by media channel. It also delves into the impact of retail media on the agency landscape.

To assess the current state of media planning and buying and to understand which channels clients are investing in now and where they will be spending in the future, Digiday+ Research collected responses from 48 agency professionals in a survey fielded in July/August 2024.

For additional industry insight, Digiday hosted a focus group of eight senior media agency executives who oversee media investment at holding company-owned and independent media agencies to gather first-person accounts of client spending. Agencies and networks that participated in the focus group were:

• Assembly Global
• Horizon Media
• Magna Global
• Mediahub
• Novus
• PMG
• Publicis Media
• UM

With the U.S. presidential election boosting political spending and fears about recession abating, media agency clients loosened their budgets a bit in 2024, Digiday’s survey found. More than one-third of respondents (39%) said clients increased budgets this year. Less than one-third of agencies said that budgets either remained the same (32% of respondents) or decreased (30% of respondents).

The increase in client spending aligns with what agencies told Digiday they expected to happen in 2024 when we asked them a year ago. In last year’s agency report, almost half of agencies (49%) told us they expected client budgets to increase in 2024.

In this year’s survey results, among respondents who said budgets have increased in 2024, nearly two-thirds (63%) said budgets have increased by less than 20%. Just over a third of the same respondent pool (38%) said budgets have increased by more than 20%.

Clients’ conservative budget increases of less than 20% may reflect the negative impact of inflation on consumer spending. Although an often-predicted recession never developed, inflation played a major factor in the first half of 2024, slowing consumer spending. Agency clients are likely reluctant to increase budgets too steeply in light of the resulting shopper cutbacks. Additionally, although clients’ budget increases have been on the lower end of the spectrum, they align with 2024 ad market growth forecasts from Forrester and IPG’s Magna unit.

Looking ahead, inflation appears to be cooling, and agencies may see a further loosening of clients’ budgets in the near future. The White House noted in a July press release that inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index fell 0.1% in June, its lowest monthly growth rate since May 2020. On a yearly basis, inflation rose 3%, down from 3.3% last month and slightly below expectations.

Political advertising spend also has kicked into a higher gear in recent weeks in the U.S. According to MediaRadar data shared with Digiday, the dueling presidential campaigns and their respective allies had already spent $385 million as of Aug. 8, and they have scheduled an additional $322 million in ad buys.

“[The election] brings money into the market as opposed to keeping clients from spending within the market,” Allie Kallish, evp, strategic investment and marketplace strategy, at Magna Global, said during Digiday’s focus group discussion. “If clients are adverse to news, or they want to stay away from election content, there are plenty of choices out there.”

Novus’ president and CMO Rob Davis said he agreed that the election shouldn’t cause clients to decrease spending during the remainder of 2024, but it could cause them to move budgets around. “When [media channels] were so linear [TV] dominated [the thinking] was, ‘Oh gosh, you’ve got to avoid the election.’ Now, we’ve tried to proactively get [our clients] to think about it, but it really hasn’t been much of a factor,” Davis said. “There are plenty of other options to buy, and [the clients] still have products or services to sell. I don’t know of any client that’s sitting out this time of year because of the election.”

Kendra Mazey, chief client officer at Assembly Global, said the election will amplify spending in both linear and digital channels and set the stage for a positive start to the new year. “When you add politics and political [spending] in the fourth quarter — we’re estimating roughly almost $8 billion in linear TV and in CTV roughly $1.6 billion — just driving both of those up … that obviously adds a bit of dynamics to the fourth quarter and heading into 2025 in a big way,” Mazey said.

Ad forecasters and agencies alike are optimistically predicting increased ad spending in 2025. On a worldwide basis, GroupM forecasts that global ad spend will grow 6.8% to reach $1.1 trillion in 2025 — the first time ever global ad spend will top $1 trillion. Nationally, BIA Advisory Services’ latest U.S. Local Advertising Forecast projects U.S. local media ad spend will reach $171 billion in 2025.

Most focus group executives Digiday spoke with also said they expect to see increased, although cautious, client spending in 2025. And they don’t expect many changes for the rest of 2024 either.

“We’re always buying or planning at least a quarter-plus ahead,” said Shelby Saville, chief investment officer of Publicis Media. “Any planned client pullback already happened a while ago. Some categories are more challenged … so you’re seeing some volatility by category, but anything that was going to be a major change has already happened.”

“For us, [2025 spending] is up. … Our basic clients happen to be in growth mode in a lot of cases,” added Novus’ Davis, who also noted that the Covid-19 pandemic affected client spending for several years. “There was the pullback and a lot of the brand metrics started dropping. Then people went back to market mix modeling and started showing, if we reinvest, we actually get a pretty good return on paid media relative to other marketing tactics. As a result, they’ve been getting fed and proving in larger budgets. We’ve got a couple clients that are doubling next year.”

Assembly Global’s Mazey said her agency has seen modest spending increases, but that budget shifts also depend on the client category. “We’re in a bit of an uptick … but we do have quite a few launches and rebrands coming out, waiting until after Q4 to hit the market in 2025,” Mazey said. “Also, from the social shopping with our beauty and fashion clients, it’s definitely an uptick. Not just fourth quarter, but we see that carrying into what would be a full-year or annual [uptick] on a 2025 basis.”

As Mazey noted, a client’s category and the products or services the client sells play a large role in determining an advertiser’s budget. Several focus groups members told Digiday that with consumers still very much interested in spending on experiences post-pandemic, travel clients in particular have increased their budgets.

“From a larger consumer or traveler perspective, folks want to get back on a plane or on the road,” said Natalee Geldert, head of brand media at PMG. “That category has seen healthy growth and uptick and eagerness to get back in the market and prove value around media mix modeling.”

According to market research company eMarketer, U.S. travel industry digital ad spending is expected to reach $7.9 billion in 2024, up from $6.8 billion in 2023.

Shea Kelly, chief media officer at Mediahub, said her agency has seen improved spending by clients within the travel category, but that an uncertain economy still looms large in clients’ decision making. “Travel has been very strong,” Kelly said. “Those advertisers, along with retail, are still out there, but we have heard a lot more cautious optimism. … There are a lot of mixed consumer signals right now, so it’s hard to tell how long this is going to last. The spending is there. It’s at least flat, but we’ve got our high tops [sneakers] on ready for any changes.”

Publicis Media’s Saville said the need for flexibility in media buying across client categories remains strong in 2024 and headed into 2025. “I’m very cautiously optimistic that we’re seeing good strong budgets coming for next year,” Saville said. “However, [the client sentiment that] ‘this is the budget, this is what I have, but I’m going to hold onto it for a little bit’ is a real dynamic that’s playing out. Also, ‘how can you [the agency] make this as risk averse as possible for me to be in market and to get the best deals without having to commit dollars, and to make sure I can be flexible.’”

One thing agencies are clear on is that digital channels will be the big winners when it comes to where clients up their spending in 2025. Among all of the media channels included in Digiday’s survey, agencies selected social media (90% of respondents), retail media (50% of respondents) and streaming video and CTV (45% of respondents) as the top three channels in which they expect to see increased client spending next year.

One reason for the shift to digital channels, like social media, retail media and streaming video and CTV, is that they tend to be less expensive than traditional channels. “Budgets are continuously shifting into more digital and platform-oriented spaces that are inherently cheaper,” said Magna Global’s Kallish during Digiday’s focus group discussion. “They don’t cost as much money to get the same reach.”

Digital channels are also relatively easier to move money out of, and to otherwise reconfigure, than other channels. Linear TV ads, for example, are generally bought months in advance during the upfront buying cycle, making them less flexible.

Within media channels, social media is the No. 1 channel in which survey respondents said they expect to see increased client spending next year. Ninety percent of respondents said they expect clients to increase their social media spend in 2025. Meanwhile, an almost identical percentage of agency respondents (88%) said clients have increased their social media ad spend in 2024.

Social media remains the most popular marketing channel among agency clients due to its massive audience reach and the opportunity it affords to establish genuine, organic connections with consumers. To note, social media also had the highest marketer usage among media channels studied in Digiday’s recent CMO Strategies series, for the second year in a row.

During our focus group discussion, agency executives told Digiday they’ve seen clients shift spending, in particular, into short-form video on social media. “The investment in short-form content, specifically within TikTok and Meta’s Reels product, is where we’re seeing investments climb,” PMG’s Geldert said.

A main reason clients are investing in short-form video is to reach younger audiences where they are most active, according to focus group executives. “A lot of clients that are going after younger consumers are definitely going to lean in there,” said Marcy Greenberger, evp and managing partner at UM. “Also, short-from video sometimes gives [a client], depending on who the publisher is, an opportunity to be a little bit more contextually relevant, versus a linear CTV that’s very either broad entertainment or sports.”

Among social media platforms, TikTok and Meta’s Reels rely almost exclusively on short-form video content. Consumer use of TikTok, in particular, is especially prevalent among younger adults. Fifty-six percent of all U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 say they use the platform, according to the Pew Research Center.

Publicis Media’s Saville said that TikTok’s younger audience reach, plus viewers’ need to watch videos with the sound turned on, has increased clients’ interest in short-form social media video advertising. “It [TikTok] re-trained younger consumers to have sound on for short-form in social,” Saville said. “That has made advertisers more interested in social short-form video, when all of a sudden there’s a lot of sound-on consumption happening,” Saville said.

“It’s an interesting phenomenon,” Saville added. “Five or six years ago, [a client] would have had to caption [a] video, and do multiple other things on social short-form. That’s just not the case anymore. TikTok brought sound-on back into things. … The sound-on is having an impact.”

Social media advertising also offers advertisers the opportunity to connect organically with audiences. Audience relationships are highly valued by advertisers on social media, where engagement is the main success metric they consider on all social platforms, with the exception of Pinterest. This is according to Digiday’s CMO Strategies series.

David Campanelli, chief investment officer at Horizon Media, said clients need to meet audiences where they’re at when planning their social media budgets. “You have to go where people are consuming content, and particularly if you want to reach younger people,” Campanelli said. “The argument of … is short-form as good as long-form? Is it professionally produced? We still have to acknowledge the differences, but you have to be where people are spending time, and you have to move where the viewers are.”

After No. 1 social media, retail media came in second place as the media channel in which agencies most expect clients to increase their budgets in 2025. Exactly half of respondents to Digiday’s survey (50%) said clients will increase retail media spending in 2025. And exactly half of agencies (50%) said their clients have increased their retail media spending in 2024.

Over the last year, retail media has surged in popularity, and ad revenue projections for the media channel have grown in lockstep. Group M reported that the global retail media ad market was expected to end 2023 with an estimated $119.4 billion in revenue. GroupM’s 2024 mid-year media channel forecast predicted that retail media will grow 17.5% this year and 13.5% in 2025.

Similarly, eMarketer has predicted that retail media will account for one-fifth of worldwide digital ad spending in 2024, with global retail media ad spending hitting $140 billion in 2024. EMarketer forecasts that U.S. retail media ad spending will rise 26% to $54.28 billion in 2024 and reach $128.87 billion by 2028.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the majority of agencies are advising their clients to invest in retail media. Sixty-three percent of survey respondents said they are currently advising their clients to invest in retail media, while only 37% of respondents said that they aren’t advising clients to invest in retail media.

The top reason agencies are recommending that clients invest in retail media is to raise consumer awareness of a product or brand. Just under half of agencies (48%) told Digiday that they advise their clients to invest in retail media for this reason.

Global e-commerce giant Amazon is a prime example of a retail media network (RMN) that is often used to raise brand awareness, in addition to converting sales. Many consumers use the dominant RMN Amazon as a place to research products before making a purchase. As consumers spend more time browsing products on Amazon.com, agencies and their clients are recognizing the potential of Amazon and other RMNs for brand storytelling and awareness, whether or not they sell on the platforms themselves.

“Anybody that sells on Amazon, or some of the larger retailers, definitely sees a value in that — not only because it drives direct sales, but it also helps with their customer relationships,” said UM’s Greenberger. “It’s often a key part of their sales and merchandising plans to commit a certain amount through their retail media networks.”

The second-most important reason agencies said they advise their clients to invest in retail media is as a first-party data source. Slightly more than one-third of respondents (34%) said they advise clients to invest in the channel for this reason.

Retail media has an edge over other channels when it comes to its access to customer purchase data through sites that are built for commerce. With data privacy laws becoming stricter, access to networks with customer purchase data are attractive to advertisers hoping target specific audiences. Additionally, the uncertainty around Google’s plans related to third-party cookies in Chrome has driven marketers to look at alternate data sources.

Nearly another one-third of respondents (31%) said that they recommend their clients invest in retail media to supplement campaigns first launched through other media channels. This reflects retail media’s original positioning as a lower-funnel, performance-driven marketing tactic, focused on converting sales. And, indeed, many agency clients use retail media in that capacity.

However, as media agencies have learned the ins and outs of retail media, they’re also starting to understand its value as a full-funnel marketing channel. RMNs are encouraging this type of thinking as well, as they connect to a broader array of data sources, according to Jon Flugstad, head of business development, commerce media, at machine learning company Moloco.

“The idea of being full-funnel is on a lot of minds of retail media networks,” Flugstad said. “This idea that I have the channels in my purview that can achieve a broad swath of objectives for my advertisers. It’s not just about performance anymore. A brand might think of optimizing for reach for certain campaigns, or optimizing for other kinds of elements that are part of a tentpole event, for example. Am I launching a product? Is it back to school? So how do I meet their needs in a way as a full media offering.”

The RMNs are even taking their messages straight to the media agency world and encouraging them to include clients who wouldn’t necessarily advertise on RMNs in their media buys. “We’ve definitely been pitched from a few of them [RMNs] about the non-endemic [clients] and it’s interesting to a degree because there could be some value in understanding purchase behavior and using that to target regardless of whether you’re driving a direct sale within the retailer,” UM’s Greenberger said.

However, Greenberger added that costs are still too high for RMNs to make sense for most non-endemic clients. “There needs to be a slightly different model because … you’re paying a premium to use the targeting, but oftentimes they’re including closed-loop measurement and, if you’re not selling on the retailer platform, that’s not a value to you,” she said. “The price point needs to be a different model for monetization in order to attract the non-endemics.”

Horizon Media’s Campanelli agreed. “It’s hard enough to justify the data premiums in the retail space for endemic advertisers. Doing it with non-endemic [advertisers] is even harder, or impossible,” he said.
Lack of budget and too many RMN investment options is the top challenge agencies say they face within retail media. More than one-third of survey respondents (36%) said this. Although Amazon, Walmart’s Walmart Connect and Target’s Roundel continue to dominate retail media, in the past year, a plethora of new retail media platforms have popped up from specialty retailers like luxury department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue, travel company Expedia and national bank JPMorgan Chase.

Some experts have said that the boom in retail media options is not sustainable and harms all parties, further supporting the top challenge identified in Digiday’s survey. “There’s not enough money to go around for this to be sustainable,” said Ethan Goodman, evp of digital commerce at The Mars Agency. “Once you get past a certain point, the offerings start to blur together and the question becomes, ‘Why don’t I just invest in the [major players, like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Kroger].’”

Cost of media is the second-largest challenge agencies said they face within retail media — a common concern across media channels. While cost is often associated with budget, for agencies and their clients working within retail media, the two challenges can be viewed separately. Retail media budget concerns are unique in that the challenge they face likely stems from the rapid growth of RMNs. As new platforms are introduced, clients have had to stretch their budgets in order to balance their platform mix.

Publicis Media’s Saville reiterated that data premiums can add to agencies’ and clients’ media cost concerns too, especially when it comes to off-site retail media advertising. “Off-platform is where that data premium really comes in. [RMNs] are all trying to expand their business, looking further out to say there is a limited silo of things that we’ll do on platform. All of it just needs to have a lot more proof points and be crafted in a way that makes sense for broader categories,” Saville said. “But they seem challenged to figure out the long-term future, to scale what they have beyond the natural places that are shopper [marketing] moving over and some media moving in.”

Streaming video and CTV came in third place in Digiday’s survey (tied with display advertising) behind retail media as the media channel most likely to benefit from larger client budgets in 2025. Almost half of survey respondents (45%) said they think clients will increase their streaming video and CTV ad spending in 2025. Exactly half of agency respondents (50%) said clients have increased their streaming video and CTV spending in 2024. (Note: See the chart with corresponding data points in the section above on digital channels.)

According to agency focus group executives, clients are shifting more ad dollars into streaming video and CTV due, in part, to recent price cuts across several streaming platforms. Netflix, for example, has slashed its ad prices from $60 CPM in 2022 to around $29 now. Other top-tier streaming ad sellers have been pitching CPMs in the $30 to $40 range. With streaming ad supply outpacing advertiser demand, ad buyers are hoping to see those prices come down even more.

“The rollbacks on the Peacocks and the Maxes and the ones that have launched relatively recently at very high price points, Netflix, … has made them much more affordable and headed in the right direction in terms of pricing, and an adequate replacement for the efficiency of linear TV,” said Horizon Media’s Campanelli.

Publicis Media’s Saville said that while agencies may have wanted to encourage clients to invest in CTV in the past, prices were often prohibitive. “CTV was always held up as one of the most expensive things that you could buy. Despite the fact that we wanted a lot of money to move over, it oftentimes was at such an expense that it didn’t rationally make sense to move the money out of linear cable into CTV,” Saville said. “Starting to reset that pricing actually allows that linear money to flow over into CTV.”

Streaming platforms are now broadcasting more live sports content too, which appeals to clients who want to reach those massive sports audiences. NBCUniversal’s Peacock carried the entire Olympics schedule this summer, which equated to over 5,000 hours of live sports. In September, Peacock also broadcast the NFL’s first game in Brazil to an audience of 14.2 million viewers. Netflix recently announced that it will carry two NFL football games on Christmas Day this year.

Publicis Media’s Saville said she’s recently seen more clients willing to spend on sports programming. “There’s increased interest, even for clients that weren’t always big sports players,” Saville said. “Sports as a reach vehicle, as an attention vehicle, and then the streamers start playing in the sports space, that just helps the CTV conversation. … Everyone’s looking for high attention, high engagement and a price point that works in their business economics.”

Meanwhile, linear TV spend has been on the decline for several years. At the upfronts in May, linear TV took a back seat to ad-supported streaming platforms. Among the presentations from the four TV giants, not a single prime-time schedule grid was seen. There was plenty of talk about content, but the fluidity of that content was noticeable, in that networks were mentioned but the streaming services were talked about just as much, if not more.

“All of the dollars are shifting away [from linear],” Magna Global’s Kallish said during Digiday’s focus group discussion. “There are pockets within linear that are still relatively strong, but they’re driven by very specific categories.”

Despite more broadcast ad budgets moving into streaming video and CTV, there is still room for traditional linear TV spending though. Twenty percent of survey respondents said clients increased their broadcast media spending (including radio) in 2024, and 25% of respondents said they expect clients to increase broadcast spending in 2025. (Note: See the chart with corresponding data points in the section above on digital channels.)

“There is a moment for linear TV investment to be had,” PMG’s Geldert said. “Going into fourth quarter and especially the holidays, there is still contextual relevancy, the moments that are a part of culture, that linear plays a really heavy hand in. … NBC has the mark on Thanksgiving Day. They have the Macy’s parade, the Purina dog show and they have NFL at night. For folks who are at home or with family enjoying their meal, there is a moment for brands to have a connection point.”

Mike Law, North American CEO of Carat — and a devotee of the upfront event, having been through many of them when he was head of investment at the Dentsu-owned agency — also offered a reminder that linear still has a place and a value in clients’ efforts to reach consumers, when he spoke with Digiday in May. 

“Ultimately we’re trying to get to a world where we don’t need to differentiate between the two,” linear and connected TV,” Law said. “There’s some myth busting in linear TV where there’s still a lot of reach and scale there — but there’s a tremendous amount of growth on the CTV side. At the end of the day, when people turn on their TVs, they don’t really differentiate. We should buy TV like we watch TV.”

As agencies enter the fourth quarter of 2024 and look forward to 2025, they’re expressing cautious optimism about current and future client spending. The ad market has already seen increased political spending and will continue to as the U.S. presidential election rolls on toward its November end. Inflation rates also appear to be cooling and, if increased consumer spending follows, so, presumably, will client media spending. The year-end holiday season, which seems to begin earlier each year, will soon pump more dollars into the ad market too.

During Digiday’s focus group discussion, PMG’s Geldert noted that clients want to ensure they can quickly take advantage of any positive market changes that might happen in the fourth quarter. “For Q4 we’re seeing a lot of customers ask, ‘If I need to put the pedal to the metal, and I’m seeing a positive signal, what are the levers that I can quickly place in market, or activate against, in order to fuel my business even more?’” Geldert said. “There’s that mindset of, let’s contingency plan in an effort to be proactive if things continue to progress well for us in Q4.”

Looking ahead to next year, agencies expect to see clients continue to shift spending into digital channels in 2025. They particularly expect to see increases in social media spending, where short-form video is top of mind for many clients who want to reach younger audiences and establish genuine connections with consumers.

Retail media has also exploded in the past year with the rise of many new RMNs, and agencies expect clients to continue to boost their investments within that media channel. “When we talk about the retail space and retail ad networks, we’re adding money,” Assembly’s Mazey said. “We’re not taking it from other areas. It’s adding, and on top of [other spending].”

As client spending on linear TV advertising continues to decline, agencies expect that clients will increase their streaming video and CTV investments in 2025 as well. Horizon’s Campanelli said clients’ interest in moving money into and out of digital channels is indicative of an industry shift toward flexibility that goes beyond streaming video and CTV, and will affect all media channels.

“There’s a larger macro trend of clients just being much more comfortable —  it has to do with the decline of linear and the role of the linear upfront being a smaller part of an advertiser’s annual budget than it used to be — that they want to spend as close to air as possible,” Campanelli said. “They want to have as much flexibility as possible and not make commitments until they absolutely have to.”

“That’s less based on what’s happening with the economy, and more about how advertisers have always wanted to spend their dollars,” he added. “We’re seeing later commitments, closer to airdate commitments. That’s the nature of the media that everyone’s buying and will continue into the future. That’s what the world looks like now.”

• The majority of agencies (36%) said clients have increased their media spending in 2024. Less than one-third of agencies said that budgets either remained the same (30% of respondents) or decreased (28% of respondents) respectively this year. This could indicate growth for agencies.
• Among respondents who said budgets have increased in 2024, the majority (63%) said budgets have increased by less than 20%. Clients’ conservative budget increases may reflect the negative impact of inflation on consumer spending, however this is in line with other experts’ predictions of slow growth in 2024.
• Digital channels will be the big winners when it comes to where clients increase their spending in 2025. Agencies selected social media (90% of respondents), retail media (50% of respondents) and streaming video and CTV (45% of respondents) as the top three channels in which they expect to see increased client spending next year.
• Within social media, agency clients are shifting spending into short-form video in particular. Short-form video offers the opportunity to reach younger audiences where they are most active. Viewers’ need to watch short-form videos with the sound turned on has also increased clients’ interest in short-form video advertising.
• The majority of agencies (63%) said they are currently advising their clients to invest in retail media. Raising consumer awareness of a product or brand is the top reason agencies said they recommend that clients invest in retail media. Forty-eight percent of agencies said this.
• Lack of budget and too many investment options is the top challenge agencies say they face within retail media — 36% of respondents said this. As retail media has surged in popularity, a plethora of new RMNs have popped up, forcing clients to stretch their budgets in order to balance their platform mix.

• Agency clients are shifting more ad dollars into streaming video and CTV due, in part, to ad inventory price cuts across several platforms. Many streaming platforms have also increased the amount of live sports content they are broadcasting, which appeals to clients who want to reach those massive sports audiences.