US Digital Ad Revenues Increase

US digital advertising revenues reached $58 billion—a 17 percent increase year-over-year—during the first six months of 2019, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) “Internet Advertising Revenue Report.”

Though the growth makes it the highest spend in history for the first half of the year, digital is beginning to show signs of maturing, according to alistdaily.com.

The data shows an uptick in revenues across the board. Internet ad revenues in the US increased seven percent from $28 billion in the first quarter of 2019 to $30 billion in the second quarter. Mobile ad revenues, which make up 70 percent of total internet ad revenues, totaled $40 billion in the second quarter of 2019 compared to $31 billion in the first quarter. Audio adspend is also rising with the emergence of smart speakers, up 30 percent YOY to a total of $1.2 billion for the first half of 2019.

Smartphone ownership and social media is nearing saturation, pushing the industry to focus on new channels for growth such as connected television (CTV), augmented reality (AR) and 5G.

The report notes that marketers must evolve their strategies alongside technological advancements, particularly immersive media. Respondents cite AR ads as having the ability to foster an emotional connection, leading to increased brand recall, positive brand associations and sometimes, increased brand awareness. Connected device usage is also gaining traction, broadening marketers’ opportunity for contextual targeting. However, as marketers foster one-to-one marketing and develop personalized ads, they should remain transparent with consumers about data value exchange.

Advertisers still rely on Nielsen to measure households for linear television but seek a congruent measurement across linear television and digital video. Despite the fragmentation of cross-channel measurement, marketers are investing more in over-the-top (OTT) content and CTV as viewers are shifting their behavior towards CTV.