The Explosion in Digital Ad Spending and What It Means to You

Global advertising buying continues to rise and digital advertising is a huge part of that growth. According to the TechCrunch website, the total advertising buy for the global market in 2013 was $503 billion. That is a steady growth of 3.5 percent from 2012, but those numbers are expected to pick up their pace as digital advertising becomes more and more popular.

How Big Is Digital Advertising?

The eMarketer website says that 2014 global digital advertising reached $137.53 billion. That is a growth of almost 15 percent, which is huge in an industry such as advertising. The large majority of digital advertising is done in the United States, with nearly 40 percent of all digital advertising dollars being spent in America.

eMarketer estimates that digital advertising will continue to grow and become an even more prominent part of all global advertising. By 2018, the site estimates that global digital advertising revenue will eclipse the $200 billion mark and become over 30 percent of all advertising purchased.

SEE ALSO: Native Advertising Evolution: Gearing up for the Long Haul

The Biggest Growth Will Be Mobile

If digital advertisers want to grab onto the wave with the most momentum, then that wave would be mobile advertising. The Wall Street Journal estimates that, by the time 2014 is over, digital mobile advertising will eclipse print newspaper advertising by $1 billion. The Journal projects that mobile advertising revenues will rise by an astonishing 83 percent in 2014 and that number can only continue to grow as more and more mobile devices are sold around the world.

Look For Growth Outside The United States

Online publishers will want to keep a close eye on the growth of digital advertising in other countries. For example, while the United States holds the current title of largest digital advertising buyer, the United Kingdom spends more by percentage on its digital advertising than any other kind of advertising it uses.

In the United States, only 27.9 percent of all advertising buys are for digital advertising. But in the United Kingdom, 47.5 percent of the advertising purchased is digital. Publishers will want to look outside the United States to find big growth areas as digital advertising picks up momentum around the world.

Search Advertising Is Still King

According to the PWC research website, $48.4 billion of America’s digital advertising money was spent on paid search programs. That number is expected to grow to just over $73 billion by 2018, which means that publishers should not plan on setting Google and Yahoo! to the side just yet.

The world is becoming connected by digital technology and social media has grabbed the imaginations of users all over the globe. As people continue to reach out to each other, they are also starting to use the Internet to buy products, find services and sell products of their own.

The significant growth in digital advertising over the past few years shows just how much buyers are paying attention to what consumers are doing. Anyone who makes a living with digital advertising will want to keep a close eye on emerging trends and find ways to take advantage of this rapidly growing market.

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