Digital Ad Spend (2021–2026)
Marketing and advertising are key components of a business’s growth. With more and more internet users year after year, many brands have increased their digital marketing spend in an effort to reach more consumers.
The global digital advertising market in 2023 is valued at $681.39 billion—69% of the overall expenditure on media ads. This refers to advertising on internet-connected devices such as computers, mobile devices, and smart devices. Media ads include everything from email marketing and video content to search engine results and more.
Digital Advertising Growth
The digital advertising spend in 2023 marks a 13.1% rise from the $602.25 billion spent in 2022. It may only be a fraction of an increase, but digital advertising growth is expected to continue in the following years.
The largest annual growth between 2021 and 2026 came in 2021 when digital ad spend increased by 29.9% year over year. The following year, its growth rate fell by nearly half to 15.6%.
Digital advertising growth is showing no signs of stopping. Experts’ projections indicate that the digital advertising market will continue to grow over the next few years, albeit with a slight slowdown in its pace.
Here are the annual digital advertising growth rates forecast for the next few years:
- 2024: 11%
- 2025: 8.4%
- 2026: 6.8%
2022 was the first year global digital ad spend crossed the $600 billion mark. If that’s not impressive enough, the digital advertising market is forecast to continue growing and reach $756.47 billion in 2024 and surpass $800 billion in 2025.
By 2026, it will hit $876.1 billion. Not only is this a 68.2% overall increase from 2021, but it will also make up 73.6% of the overall expenditure on media ads. In other words, in 2026, for every dollar spent on ads, nearly 74 cents will be on digital ads.
As digital ad spend grows, expenditure on print media advertising declines. Research results already suggest that the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has accelerated the shift to digital advertising.
Plus, with lockdowns in place across the world, people are spending a lot more time at home than usual and consuming increasing amounts of digital media. Print media is being impacted badly by this shift, with the effect particularly hard felt on print newspapers and magazines.