Online Advertising (US Market)

Main article: US economy

2024:15% market growth to $259 billion

In 2024, the volume of the online advertising market in the United States reached $258.6 billion. This is about 15% more than in the previous year, when expenses in this area were estimated at $225 billion. Such data are provided in a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) industry group and PwC, released on April 17, 2025.

The study said that the largest share of revenue is provided by search advertising - 39.8% versus 39.5% in 2023. Costs in this segment in 2024 reached $102.9 billion, rising by 15.9% on an annualized basis. Another 28.7% was brought by display advertising on the Internet - $74.3 billion with an increase of 12.4% year-on-year. The video advertising segment recorded an increase in sales by 19.2% compared to 2023 - to $62.1 billion: the share of this segment was 24%. The remaining 7.5% in total revenue was provided by other types of advertising, including audio.

In 2024, the US Digital Signage industry showed significant positive dynamics. Despite instability caused by geopolitical factors, changes in interest rates and economic uncertainty, major events such as the presidential election and the Olympic Games have provided significant growth, says David Cohen, CEO of IAB.

Analysts note that advertising in podcasts returned to rapid growth, which in 2024 amounted to 26.4% with a final result of $2.43 billion. There has been a resurgence of advertisers in the social media space, where spending jumped 36.7% year-on-year.

Artificial intelligence tools have a significant impact on the industry. AI has gone from an automation tool to a transformative force in Digital Signage driven by generative and agent models^[1]

2021: US Digital Signage market soars 35% - PwC

In 2021 American , the Digital Signage market soared by 35% over the year compared to 2020 and reached $189 billion. Such data analysts PwC announced in mid-April 2022. According to their calculations, all the main distribution channels for Digital Signage showed significant growth, especially digital video (including CTV/),OTT digital audio, social media and search.

Streaming media is well ahead of the entire industry in terms of growth, although the industry still faces uncertainty related to privacy regulation, the elimination of the use of third-party cookies and identifiers. The sphere also has problems of measuring and transparency of the supply chain, and large brands invest in digital technologies.

US Digital Signage market soars 35% - PwC

Streaming media figures for 2021:

• Digital video remains one of the fastest growing channels, increasing by 50.8% compared to 2020, with a total income of $39.5 billion.
• Digital audio showed the highest growth compared to 2020, an increase of 57.9% to $4.9 billion.
• Social media advertising grew 39.3% to $57.7 billion as consumers continue to use the platforms Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter.
• Despite strong growth in search revenue of 32.8% in 2021, profits did not grow as much as other areas, which led to a slight decrease in the total share of income, a decrease of -0.8%.

The main volume of revenue from Digital Signage in 2021 78.6% was brought by 10 digital publishers and platforms, the names of which are not specified in the report - IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2021. The report includes data reflecting Internet advertising revenues for computers and mobile devices derived from websites, commercial online services, advertising networks and exchanges, mobile devices and email providers, and other companies selling advertising on the Internet. In 2020, Digital Signage accounted for 78.1%.^[2]

2019: Share of programmatic advertising 82%

Share of programmatic advertising in the Digital Signage market in 2017-2019 with a forecast for 2020-2021

2018: Top 20 internet giants by size of internet audience

Internet companies by audience size

2017: US online advertising up 21% to overtake TV revenue

The volume of online advertising in the United States reached a record high of $88 billion, according to a report by IAB and PwC. This is 21% higher compared to $72.5 billion last year. For the first time, Digital Signage revenues overtook television revenues.

The mobile segment accounted for more than half (57%) of all online advertising, or $49.9 billion, which is 36% more than a year ago. The volume of advertising in the video segment amounted to a record $11.9 billion in 2017, an increase of 33% compared to $8.9 billion in 2016. At the same time, revenues from mobile video advertising accounted for 54% of all revenues in this segment, or $6.2 billion.

2015

Google, Facebook hold 52% of U.S. mobile ad market

In 2015, eMarketer estimated the volume of the entire American mobile advertising market at $30.5 billion^[3].

At the end of 2015, Google and Facebook occupied 52.3% of the entire US mobile advertising market.

• Google's share was 32.9%, or $10.02 billion,
• Facebook's share is 19.4%, or $5.9 billion.
• In third place Twitter with a share of 3.8%,
• on the fourth - Yahoo! with a share of 2.9%,
• on the fifth - Apple (iAd) with a share of 2.6%.

In 2016, media advertising on budgets will outstrip contextual

In January 2016, eMarketer analysts predict that in 2016, display advertising will outstrip search advertising in the United States.

The cost of media advertising will amount to $32.17 billion, for contextual advertising - $29.24 billion. Going forward, the cost gap, eMarketer estimates, will only grow.

The combined share of media advertising (including video, sponsorship advertising, banners and other advertising formats, as well as the so-called rich media segment - banners/advertising blocks with interactive content) is expected to reach 47.9% of the total online advertising market in the United States in 2016.

Expenses on banners and other formats will grow from $11.57 billion in 2015 to $13.39 billion in 2016. Expenses on the video segment in online advertising will increase from $7.46 billion in 2015 to $9.59 billion in 2016.

The bulk of video advertising costs on the Internet will be for desktop advertising (desktop, desktop computers) - 57.5%^[4]

At the same time, the bulk of expenses for banners, rich media advertisements, sponsored publications and other media formats will be concentrated on mobile devices - 77.5%.

2014: US online advertising market grows to $49.5 billion in 2014

Revenue in the online advertising market USA in 2014 increased to a record $49.5 billion, which is 16% more than last year's figures ($42.8 billion), according to a study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

According to the study, revenue in the Digital Signage segment in the States in the fourth quarter of 2014 reached $14.2 billion, which is 17% more than in the same period in 2013.

Online media advertising grew by 5% over the year, from $12.8 billion to $13.5 billion. It accounted for 27% of the market - the largest share.

Digital video advertising as a type of media advertising earned $3.3 billion in 2014, 17% more than a year earlier ($2.8 billion). The volume of advertising revenue on social networks increased by 57% over the year, from $4.5 billion to $7 billion.

The mobile advertising market in the United States reached $12.5 billion in 2014, which is 76% more than in 2013 (then this segment amounted to $7.1 billion). Thus, mobile advertising became the second largest industry in the American online advertising market and took 25%, while in 2013 it accounted for 17%.

Most of the funds spent in the United States on online advertising are still invested in retail advertising - it accounts for 21% of investments. It is followed by financial services (13%) and automotive advertising (12%).

2013

Adobe study

• According to [1] Adobe, the least favorite advertising media in the United States are social media, digital magazines and applications, while preferred ones are print and TV.
• According to the same study by Adobe, none of the respondents would like to see advertising in applications and only 2 and 3%, respectively, would prefer social media and news sites to other advertising platforms.
• In an Adobe study, 54% of respondents said banner ads did not work. According to another study, the average CTR of advertising on the site is 0.1%, the standard banner is 0.04%.
• In 2013, a 41.4% increase in video advertising on the Internet is expected compared to 2012.
• It became known that by Christmas Facebook will begin selling video ads. Earlier, Twitter, on the eve of its IPO, announced its intention to collect user data for selling ads on sites and mobile applications.

The creators of Adblock Plus, a browser extension for blocking annoying Internet ads, published in December 2013 a forecast for the development of the advertising industry for 2014. Adblock Plus predicts three trends in the new year:

• Rising intolerance of intrusive advertising. Users will hit back at online ads, which follows an annual increase in the number of downloads of blockers. 2014 will be the year when people try to regain the Internet.
• Market response. It is time for the advertising industry to draw conclusions from the simultaneous growth of investments in online advertising and the number of downloads of blockers. It is in the industry's interest to compromise with "protesting" users by making the ads less intrusive.
• Growing user awareness. In 2014, users will be able to get an idea of ​ ​ the contents of the "black boxes" of online advertising. For years, internet surfers have been unaware of how advertisers are experimenting with new ad formats by invisibly tracking their activity. However, solutions such as the Lightbeam plugin for Firefox and blockers gave users the opportunity to regain control of the network.

In the US, the volume of online advertising for the first time exceeded the volume of TV advertising

In the United States, the online advertising market in 2013 amounted to $42.8 billion in volume, reaching an absolute record (this is 17% higher than the characteristics of 2012: then the volume of this market amounted to $36.6 billion), - this was reported in a new report by the consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers, made for Interactive Advertising Bureau. The growth in the online advertising segment was 17%, and mobile advertising showed a three-digit 110%.

The time people spend on different types of media and the share of advertising costs for different types of media in the United States in 2013^[5]

It is noted that for the first time, the budgets of American advertisers online exceeded the expenses of advertisers on TV (in 2013, television advertising revenue amounted to $40.2 billion). IAB President Randall Rotenberg believes that digital devices have long been proven effective in attracting and reaching audiences.

Video advertising on the Internet increased by 19%, budgets increased from $2.3 to $2.8 billion. And the segment of media advertising added 7% ($12.8 billion), search - 9% ($18.4 billion). Over the year, investments in mobile advertising increased from $3.4 to $7.1 billion, and its share almost doubled - from 9% to 17%.

If we talk about quarterly income, then according to the results of the 4th quarter of 2013, the volume of the South American Digital Signage market increased by 17% compared to the same period in 2012 - from $10.3 billion to $12.1 billion.

Also in the course of the study, it was possible to establish that the largest investments in online advertising are provided by retail representatives. The volume of their investments in Digital Signage in 2013 amounted to about 21% of the total investment.

2011: Up 22% to $31.7 billion

According to a joint report by IAB and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the online advertising market in the United States grew by 22% in 2011 compared to 2010 and reached a record $31.7 billion.

2010: Online media beat print by advertising revenue

For the first time, online media overtook print publications in terms of audience size and advertising income in the United States in 2010. This is stated in the next annual State of the News Media report published by Pew Research Center.

According to the study, 46% of Americans surveyed read news in online media at least three times a week, while only 40% of respondents regularly view materials in print newspapers and on their websites.

Advertising revenues of the print press in 2010 fell by 46% compared to four years earlier and by 6.4% compared to 2009 - to $22.8 billion. Online press revenues at the same time grew by 13.9% (or $3 billion) over the year to $25.8 billion, the authors of the report report, citing data from the research company eMarketer.

"We see that the transition of the media to the Internet is accelerating. This is facilitated by the rapid growth in the popularity of tablet computers and the increase in the distribution of smartphones, "said Tom Rosenstiel, head of the Project for Excellence in Journalism project at the Pew Research Center.

Analysts note that not everything is smooth for online media, despite the steady growth in advertising revenues. A significant share of finance in this area settles in the pockets of search engines, not reaching the content creators. The difficulty for online news publications is that a large share of advertising spending, 48%, falls on search ads, while the publications themselves get only a small part of them. News aggregators that make money by providing users with someone else's content also significantly reduce the possible income of online publications.

In addition, experts say that large online media began to make significant efforts to find new sources of income on the Web, while earlier they tried primarily to increase the volume of content produced.

The authors of the report call mobile Internet another important factor in the development of the general media market in the United States. Almost half of Americans surveyed (47%) said they periodically read local news using their mobile devices. Most often, in this way they get access to local news or information about nearby establishments, such as restaurants, shops, etc.

2001-2009

US Online Advertising Market Dynamics

Internet advertising spending was $5.5 billion in the first quarter of 2009, down 5% from $6.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Traditional media on the Internet

2009

The Internet (advertising and subscription) in 2009 brought American publishers $902 million (PwC estimate)), which is only 6% of their total income. As Morgan Stanley analysts point out, publishers who have been implementing a clear Internet strategy for several years and, moreover, receive a noticeable income on the network not only from advertisers, but also from loyal readers who are ready to pay for access to content and additional services.

As follows from the reports of the Pearson group (owns the Financial Times newspaper and Economist magazine) and the New York Times Company (NYT, publishes the newspaper of the same name), the revenues of these publications on the Internet have grown significantly in recent years. If the NYT's total revenue growth in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 amounted to 1.2% (up to $586 million), then revenues from online advertising increased immediately by 20.5% (up to $94.3 million). Thus, the newspaper earns 16% revenue on the network, and this is the main source of growth in its operating profit, which increased in the second quarter by 40%.

FT Group, thanks to "digital services" (primarily on a paid subscription to sites), received 36% of revenue in the first half of 2010. Much of the Financial Times and Economist's online content requires paid access. On traditional advertising, FT Group earned only 45% revenue in the second quarter.

Advertising in printed versions of newspapers and magazines has always generated most of the revenue for publishing houses. Therefore, during the crisis, when advertisers reduced budgets in the print media, such dependence did not affect their financial situation in the best way. Some major publications were forced to sell shares. The last example is the French Le Monde. According to the forecast of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), only in 2013 you can expect an increase in paper press revenues by 0.6%. Until that time, publisher revenues from traditional advertising will fall.

2010

Revenue cuts are forcing newspapers, especially large ones, to actively reduce their staff by firing reporters and editors.

To date, news departments in the United States average 30% fewer employees than in 2000, the report said. In addition, the drop in income forces newspapers to actively promote their Internet versions and take money from users for access to materials on their sites. So, in the near future, The New York Times plans to launch a paid model of access to content.

See also

• Online Advertising (Global Market)
• Online advertising (Russian market)
• Video advertising on the Internet (Russian market)
• Online Advertising (European Market)

Notes