Let’s see what this week’s numbers say about online advertising, shall we?
- According to the 2024 Global Midyear Advertising Forecast by GroupM, global advertising revenue will grow 7.8% in 2024 to $989.8 billion, an upward revision from the 5.3% they forecast in December. The advertising industry is expected to surpass one trillion dollars in revenue in 2025, increasing 6.8% to $1.1 trillion, one year earlier than previously forecast. Digital pure-play advertising will account for 70.6% ($699.0 billion) of total ad revenue in 2024, with retail media remaining the fastest growing digital segment.
- Schonfeld & Associates, Inc. has released the latest edition of its annual study, Advertising Ratios & Budgets. The new research report covers ad spending in 2023 by more than 2,500 individual publicly traded companies within 315 industries. In examining more than 2,500 individual publicly-traded companies within 315 industries, the researchers found that the average ad-to-sales ratio across companies and industries last year was 2.83%. That figure was up marginally from 2.72% in 2022. Online powerhouse Amazon continued to grow its advertising budget by 5 percent. Technology companies providing services to social media platforms, led by Alphabet and Meta, spent over $16 billion in 2023 a decrease of 6% but saw revenue grow by more than 9%.
- According to a report from Integral Ad Science, some 94% of US agencies recommend that their clients try new media channels, and it seems that they’ve taken heed. Some 85% of marketers have advertised on at least one emerging media channel such as retail media, gaming, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or digital audio. When advertising on emerging media channels, advertisers tend to favor brand-driven (56% share) over performance-driven (44%) objectives, whereas agencies show a slight preference for performance-driven (51%) over brand-driven (47%) objectives.
- Latest YouGov Surveys research across 17 markets globally has found that consumers aren’t that comfortable with brands’ use of AI in advertising. About half (51%) of respondents are uncomfortable with the idea of brands using AI to create a virtual ambassador in place of a celebrity spokesperson, compared to only one-third (34%) who are comfortable with this use case. Respondents are also uncomfortable with AI being used to edit product images in place of graphic designers (48% and 39%, respectively) and to generate advertised product images in place of product photography (47% and 39%, respectively). There’s more parity in opinion when it comes to AI being used to generate descriptions and taglines on what is being sold, in place of copywriters (42% uncomfortable; 43% comfortable), and for AI deciding the placement of ads in media channels, in place of advertising professionals (41% uncomfortable; 42% comfortable). These results come after previous research indicating that consumers are wary of greater use of AI by brands and advertisers. Consumers are relatively in agreement that brands should disclose their use of AI.
