Standard Media Index

Standard Media Index (SMI) is an advertising spend data provider that aggregates real billing and planning data contributed by media agencies and brands to produce verified measures of advertising expenditure, publisher ad revenue, and media pricing such as CPMs. The company positions its figures as actual transaction data rather than survey-based estimates^[1].

SMI covers markets across the Americas, Europe and Western Asia, and Asia-Pacific, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, China, and India^[1]. In 2023 it announced that it had become part of Guideline, a media data and planning technology company formed through the combination of Standard Media Index, SQAD, and Lumina^[1][3].

What It Does

SMI collects and harmonizes agency billing and planning data, reporting advertising spend by product category, ad revenue by publisher and digital platform, media pricing including CPMs, and future-booked commitments^[1]. The company states it has more than 15 years of experience cleaning this billing data and connecting third-party datasets to it^[1].

Data and Methodology

The dataset is sourced directly from the systems of agency and brand partners, which the firm argues gives a real-world view of the advertising market rather than modelled estimates^[1]. Coverage spans television, digital, CTV, audio, and other channels, with Guideline's product pages describing benchmarks built from verified billing data rather than surveys^[2].

Buyers and Use Cases

SMI serves media agencies, publishers, brands and consulting firms, content owners, and investment managers^[1]. Its website lists major broadcasters, digital platforms, consultancies, and banks including UBS, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan among organizations it works with^[1]. For investors, agency-level ad spend series are used as a high-frequency read on industry revenue and category trends ahead of earnings reports.

History

The company's site cites over 15 years of history harmonizing agency billing data as of the early 2020s^[1]. In June 2023 Standard Media Index announced it had become a Guideline company^[1]; trade press describes Guideline as formed through the acquisitions of Standard Media Index, SQAD, and Lumina, uniting ad pricing and spend data in one suite^[3][4].