Dive Brief:
- EMarketer upgraded its digital ad spending in February to bring it within a percentage point of TV spending, with digital expected to surpass TV next year for the first time.
- Within the digital channels, mobile is expected to account for 63.4% of U.S. ad spending this year.
- The report pointed out that TV still stands alone with all other traditional media channels – print, radio, directories and out-of-home – combined no where close to the spending on TV, but all digital channels combined are on the cusp of taking the ad dollar lead.
Dive Insight:
EMarketer pointed out TV’s percentage point lead, at least for this year, still represents a lot of ad spending in actual dollars – $1.78 billion in fact – with TV expected to garner $70.6 billion and digital $68.82 billion.
Mobile’s hold over digital spending is projected to continue to increase through 2020.
Another notable trend from the eMarketer report is the dominance of programmatic spending in display.
Programmatic is expected to account for 67% of U.S. display spending this year at $21.55 billion, with a majority of that figure (69.1%) going to mobile display. EMarketer pointed out its methodology considers that all methods of transacting display ad via an API, which are very common to social media ad platforms, are considered programmatic spending.
Recently, ZenithOptimedia forecast that mobile was expected to propel global ad spend past last year's figures. At the time the news broke, ZenithOptimedia’s head of forecasting, Jonathan Barnard, told Ad Exchanger, describing the lift in mobile advertising, "[Mobile is] creating the opportunity to communicate more cheaply with consumers."
