Internet Advertising Price Inflation in the US

Key takeaways

• Internet advertising price inflation in the US was 2.2% year over year in September 2026, against 5.9% a year earlier and an average of 3.7% over the last twelve months.
• This is the closest thing to an official inflation rate for online ad space, published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of the Producer Price Index.
• Over the period shown, the yearly rate ranged from 2.1% in August 2026 to 21.4% in August 2024.
• When ad price inflation runs positive, a flat budget buys less reach, and rising CPMs are a market condition rather than a campaign problem.
• Compare your own CPM and CPC drift against this benchmark to separate market-wide inflation from account-specific issues.

The data

What this means for e-commerce and DTC brands

Ad costs are the single biggest line item for most e-commerce and DTC brands, and this index is the market-wide price signal behind them. If internet ad prices are inflating and your CPMs are up a similar amount, the market moved and your media plan needs to absorb it. If your costs are rising much faster than the benchmark, the problem is more likely audience saturation, creative fatigue, or account structure. Budgeting against a measured ad inflation rate also makes next quarter's targets defensible instead of hopeful. For what DTC brands actually pay per thousand impressions and per click, read this line next to the adtribute panel benchmarks for Meta and Google.

What this statistic does not tell you

The index covers internet advertising sales by US publishers and platforms in aggregate. It is not a Meta CPM or a Google CPC, and it does not break out auction dynamics by channel, format, or vertical. Your blended costs also depend on targeting, creative, and mix, which no market index captures. The rate moves in quarterly steps, with three consecutive months usually showing almost the same value, so read it quarter to quarter rather than month to month. The index only starts in December 2022, so the yearly change is available from December 2023 onward.

Frequently asked questions