According to a report published earlier this month by global media network company Carat, advertising spend on digital media could become as much as 27% of the total global media spending this year.
Their forecast on total advertising expenditure across all media shows total advertising spend (based on data from 59 countries worldwide) is expected to reach nearly $550 billion, an increase of 4.4% compared to last year.
Media Events Drive Advertising
One of the reasons given for the increase in global advertising spend this year was the number of high interest media events, including the European Cup, the Rio Olympics, the Paralympics and the upcoming US presidential elections.
Perhaps unsurprisingly therefore, TV advertising has maintained its lead with the highest share of media spending, comprising a total of 41.1% of all advertising spend this year. The forecast for next year predicts a reduced growth in TV advertising of only 2.3% (growth), while print advertising is expected to continue its loss of 5.5% this year.
Spending On Digital Media
Spending on digital media, including search, display, video, mobile and social advertising, grew by 15.6% this year, and will grow an additional 13.5% next year, contributing to an overall increase of $20 billion in 2017.
Will Swayne, global president of Carat, said “digital continues to significantly outpace the [advertising] growth of all other media, and is now the top spending media in 13 markets.”
The countries where digital advertising spend exceeds spend on all other forms of advertising are Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Digital media spending is expected to exceed 30% of the total global advertising spend in 2017, with much of the growth being driven by the ongoing rapid expansion of mobile internet use and online video consumption.
Digital Media Spending Breakdown
Digital media advertising spend for 2016 is broken down as follows:
- Mobile: 48.8%
- Video: 41.3%
- Social Media: 35.3%
- Programmatic Buying: 32%
- Search Advertising: 12.3%
The Future Of Advertising
As more and more of the world gets online every year, and more and more people embrace the growing online culture, advertising spend in digital media will continue to grow. We’ve already seen the declining relevance of TV and print in a digital age, and the divide will increase as we move more of our lives, and our business, online.
As such, there’s no real surprise that companies are increasing their digital ad spend, while in many cases, scaling back on other media that, simply put, isn’t reaching as many of their target market as it used to.
