The single source of spend truth.
Verified advertising expenditure, pooled from the agencies who actually transact it — standardised into one taxonomy across linear TV, streaming, digital, print, audio, and out-of-home. Billing-verified. Not panelled. Not modelled.
The market intelligence most teams use isn't what the market is actually doing.
Panel-based providers infer spend from samples. Modelled datasets extrapolate from rate cards and disclosed budgets. Agency-reported figures arrive after the pitch is over. None of them see the actual buy.
Panels infer. They don't observe.
Survey-based spend reports project the market from a sample. Categories that move quickly, channels that fragment fast, and disruptors entering the market all get smoothed out in the modelling.
Rate cards aren't real prices.
Modelled spend datasets work from published rate cards and disclosed budgets. The negotiated price — the one buyers and sellers actually transacted at — is invisible to the model.
Fragmented taxonomies don't add up.
Without one standardised classification across publishers, channels, and categories, comparing spend across markets becomes a translation exercise. SOV benchmarks built on inconsistent definitions don't compare like-for-like.
THE DATA FOUNDATION
Pooled from the agencies who actually buy. Standardised into one taxonomy.
SMI's data comes from direct integrations with agency invoicing systems — every major holding company and the largest independents. Pooled, normalised, and structured into a single classification system used as the industry's reference taxonomy.
The agencies contributing the data are the agencies using it.
Direct integrations with agency invoicing systems mean spend data is captured at the moment of transaction — not reconstructed from sampling or survey. The same holding companies and independents who contribute the data also rely on it.
One classification system across every channel and category.
SMI normalises every transaction into a single, structured taxonomy — so spend across publishers, channels, formats, and categories is genuinely comparable. The classification system underneath SMI has become the industry reference standard.
The Intelligence Layer
Four intelligence layers. Built on the data foundation.
Specialised intelligence layers that turn the pooled data into specific market views — national TV operating intelligence, digital pricing benchmarks, linear pricing, and forward-looking demand signals.
AGENCY-READY DELIVERABLES
Three packaged views built for the agency workflow.
For agencies that want SMI's intelligence ready-to-use in pitches, plans, and growth conversations — packaged into three deliverable formats, scoped to your category and your market.
01
Category Spotlight Deep Dive
Win pitches with verified data.
Competitor spend by media, share-of-voice benchmarks, head-to-head category positioning — built to be brought directly into pitch decks and new-business presentations.
02
Category Landscape Report
Deep expertise for every pitch.
Full category view across the year — seasonal spending patterns, channel mix shifts, and the structural movements that shape the category. Built for strategists who need to understand the whole landscape.
03
Market Opportunity Analysis
Precision-size any opportunity.
Custom market sizing built around your specific question. Find white space, quantify share, model the addressable opportunity for any pitch, plan, or growth conversation.
EMBEDDED ACROSS THE PLATFORM
SMI doesn't just deliver reports. It powers the platform.
The same data underneath SMI reports feeds directly into MediaTools and Lumina at the moment of plan creation. The competitive benchmarks your agency sees in a pitch deck are the benchmarks your planning team sees as they build the plan. One source of truth, everywhere it's needed.
Dashboards
Interactive visualisations and category drill-downs
APIs
Direct ingestion into your data stack
Flat files
SFTP delivery in your preferred schema
Embedded
Built natively into MediaTools and Lumina
Built for media agencies. Used across the market.
Media agencies
Win pitches with verified competitor data. Build category-leading new-business presentations. Identify growth opportunities as the market moves
Brand marketing leaders
Benchmark your spend against competitors. Understand category seasonality. See where the market is going before it shows up in the panel data.
Media owners
Understand market positioning. Identify share-of-voice gains and losses. See category investment trends before negotiating upfront commitments.
Capital markets & analysts
Build coverage models on verified ad spend. Quantify category dynamics and competitive positioning. Identify share shifts before they surface in quarterly results.
Across every sector
Trusted across every sector with serious media investment.
The brands behind the world's most-spent-on advertising categories.
Quick service restaurants
The world's most-visited QSR chains, operating across dozens of markets and hundreds of agency relationships.
Automotive
Global automotive brands managing multi-market media investment across mass-market and premium segments.
Financial services
The world's largest payment networks and retail banks — complex regulatory requirements, multi-agency structures, every major market.
FMCG & consumer goods
The global consumer goods companies behind the world's most-spent-on product categories.
Luxury
The world's most recognised luxury houses, where investment governance and brand consistency are non-negotiable.
Technology
Global technology companies managing media investment across B2B and B2C audiences, multiple agency partners, every market.
Healthcare & pharma
Global pharmaceutical and healthcare brands operating under strict regulatory frameworks — where approval governance and audit trails aren't optional.
Entertainment & streaming
The streaming platforms and entertainment brands competing for audience attention across every screen and every market.
Talk with us
The single source of spend truth.
See how SMI's verified ad spend intelligence changes how your agency pitches, plans, and grows — across every channel and every market that matters to your category.
Talk to a Guideline Expert