According to two ad industry forecasts released on Monday, the global advertising industry will grow faster this year than previously expected, as brands rely more heavily on search engines and social media companies such as Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) to reach customers during the pandemic.
Despite a year marked by global supply chain disruptions that delayed products reaching shelves and an Apple Inc (AAPL.O) user privacy crackdown that many feared would disrupt mobile advertising, brands have continued to advertise online as in-store shopping has been slow to return due to the ongoing pandemic, according to Jonathan Barnard, director of global intelligence at advertising firm Zenith, which published an ad expenditure forecast on Monday.
GroupM forecast global ad spending to grow 22.5% in 2021 from the previous year, while Zenith estimated growth of 15.6% — both estimates were revised up from previous expectations.
According to two ad industry forecasts released on Monday, the global advertising industry will grow faster this year than previously expected, as brands turn to search engines and social media companies like Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) to reach customers during the pandemic.
Despite global supply chain disruptions that delayed products reaching shelves and an Apple Inc (AAPL.O) user privacy crackdown that many feared would disrupt mobile advertising, brands have continued to advertise online as in-store shopping has been slow to return due to the ongoing pandemic, according to Jonathan Barnard, director of global intelligence at ad firm Zenith, which published an ad expenditure forecast on Monday.
It also comes as Alphabet and Meta, the business that used to be known as Facebook, are both under investigation for antitrust violations in the US and Europe.
Because of the necessity for marketers to reach consumers directly, merchants such as Walmart, Target, and Kroger have been able to rapidly build their own ad sales businesses, allowing brands to target more customers using their shopper data. According to Zenith, this type of advertising surged 47 percent this year to $77 billion and is anticipated to grow to $143 billion by 2024.
Retail media networks have been around for more than a decade in China, but their growth in other areas has been extraordinary, according to Barnard.
“It has developed explosively out of nowhere outside of China in the last five years,” he remarked.
