- Digital promoting revenues last 12 months hit their highest levels of growth since 2021, the period following the pandemic bump, in response to latest research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC.
- The category grew 14.9% 12 months over 12 months in 2024 to $258.6 billion, with video remaining the fastest-growing format and a segment now representing nearly 1 / 4 of the market. Podcasts surged while advertisers continued to firm up spending on channels like social and commerce media.
- Cyclical events akin to the Olympics and an election season created tailwinds while advertisers this 12 months face greater uncertainty and a scarcity of such blockbuster occasions. Disruption stemming from artificial intelligence (AI), privacy regulations and macroeconomic volatility, amongst other aspects, will further reshape the business within the months ahead.
Digital promoting received a second wind in 2024 following a post-pandemic slowdown. The category’s rate of growth last 12 months greater than doubled that of 2023, when digital ticked up just 7.3% to $225 billion. That said, advertisers might want to stay reactive as global uncertainty threatens to again tip the scales toward contraction and emergent technologies mandate changes in strategic pondering. The IAB claimed generative AI is moving past its buzzword phase to automate more facets of campaign management, personalization and search promoting.
“As we sit up for this 12 months, there isn’t a doubt that we’ll see a good more dynamic market driven by geopolitical and economic aspects. There is completely growth available for people who embrace the volatility and innovate,” said David Cohen, CEO of the IAB, in a press release attached to the report, which PwC conducts on behalf of the trade group.
While macroeconomic pressures like inflation were prevalent in 2024, tentpole occasions akin to the Summer Olympics and a heated election cycle helped drive momentum. The elections delivered higher levels of digital spend, with formats like podcasting and influencer marketing playing larger roles than they’ve previously.
Podcast promoting was up 26.4% YoY in 2024, an over 20 percentage-point jump from the 12 months prior (though the channel still commands lower than 1% of the general pie). Social investments were also robust, climbing 36.7% YoY to $88.8 billion, or 34.3% of the market. Brands were drawn to creator partnerships, user-generated content and community-oriented marketing on social, themes which can be carrying over into 2025. The IAB expects that more brands will adopt long-term creator partnerships versus one-off campaigns, particularly as online personalities broaden their media presence beyond a single app or channel.
While digital is basically dominated by a handful of walled garden platforms, namely Google, Meta Platforms and Amazon, the IAB noted an expansion for mid-tier corporations, which experienced the most important share of growth in 2024 to achieve 11% of the market. Mid-tier corporations analyzed by the IAB consist of media platforms, streaming and interactive media services and e-commerce businesses.
“The biggest shift in market share got here from the mid-tier corporations, growing at a greater rate than each the most important and the smallest players,” said Cohen in a press release. “These midsized corporations are adopting latest business models, encouraging creator engagement and leveraging AI and data-driven insights to supply more personalized, cost-effective promoting solutions.”
Advertising has currently seen an influx of media networks, a term first coined by retailers that refers to leveraging first-party customer data to focus on and sell ads, which have capitalized on the appetite for alternatives to third-party cookies. Upstarts in areas akin to AI and the creator economy could further contribute to the diversification in spend.
More ad dollars could possibly be shuffled around as top players like Google and Meta contend with the potential of breakups over antitrust probes. TikTok, which has set trends for the larger social sphere, can be facing a ban, though the deadline for locating a U.S.-based backer has been prolonged twice by the Trump administration.
Looking ahead, the IAB sees ripe opportunities within the streaming and connected TV landscape as premium live sports make the jump from linear. So-called “skinny” bundles will help media owners retain subscribers and a gradual flow of revenue while programmatic and self-serve CTV technology will grant brands greater control on the back end, the organization predicts.
In the near term, some brands are pumping the brakes on their promoting plans because of the chaos brought on by the Trump administration’s tariffs. Agencies and ad forecasters have signaled that the environment is one in every of caution while some budgets could also be redirected toward lower-funnel tactics, including retail media, that are likely to be cheaper and fewer vulnerable to risk.
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