Zenith: Google, Facebook commanded 20% of all ad spending in 2016

Dive Brief:

Google parent company Alphabet and Facebook accounted for 20% of global ad spending across all media in 2016, making for a 9% growth over the last five years, according to Zenith's Top 30 Global Media Owners report and as reported by CNBC,
The two already are far and away the leaders in terms of ad revenue, with Alphabet raking in $79.4 billion last year followed by Facebook at $26.9 billion. Comcast was the top traditional media owner in third place at $12.9 billion.
Other U.S. media companies in the top 30 include The Walt Disney Company, Viacom, iHeartMedia and AOL's owner Verizon. Three prominent Chinese companies were featured as well: Baidu, CCTV and Tencent. Twitter was No. 30 but was marked as the fastest growing media owner with a 734% ad revenue increase between 2012 and 2016, per CNBC.

Dive Insight:

Digital is expected to pass TV in terms of media spend for the first time ever this year, but it's a channel that still frustrates many marketers, with Google and Facebook bearing the brunt of the ire. Since the two hold such a tight grip on spending in the space, and since their platforms provide massive, vital reach, it can be difficult for advertisers to enact any sort of changes — though more power is shifting in their favor as industry leaders become fed up.

Google is mired in a brand safety controversy stemming largely from its YouTube video platform, where ads are appearing next to content featuring terrorism, hate speech or other material not safe for brands. Marketers have been freezing their spend on YouTube and other Google properties since, and while the boycotts didn't hurt Alphabet's bottom line in recent Q1 earnings, the tech giant is now introducing more stringent policies on YouTube and for its AdSense network.

Facebook, for its part, was called out for a series of marketing metrics errors last year, particularly in regards to the viewability of its video ads. Procter & Gamble's Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard then kicked 2017 off by demanding its advertising partners receive third-party accreditation for metrics like viewability lest they lose the CPG giant's ad business — a move that seemed to be aimed, however indirectly, at Facebook.

The call-to-action appears to have lead Facebook to submit to independent audits by industry watchdog group the Media Rating Council (MRC).