According to new research from BIA, most local advertisers will maintain their advertising spending levels in 2019. Mobile and social advertising are the two areas where advertisers indicate a willingness to increase ad spend in 2019.
Entertainment industry advertisers, which include amusement parks, sports teams, theaters and other venues, indicated they will spend slightly more, according to the BIA Advisory Services’ Survey of Advertising and Marketing.
Retailers, professional service providers, and home/trade service advertisers will spend about the same in 2019 as they did in 2018.
BIA’s Vice President of Analysis and Insights and SAM Study Director Celine Matthiessen said, “It’s clear from our data that local advertisers are comfortable maintaining investment in the ad platforms they are convinced generate the best ROI for their business. Over the past several years, our research indicates that advertisers are more focused on personalized, targeted communications and they believe mobile and social deliver on important customer engagement KPIs.”
According to the survey, advertisers want a lot more than basic demographic targeting these days. They want full insights into consumer behavior on their path to purchase, like knowing websites and social pages they have visited, and produce searches they have used to purchase products and services.
And, of course it’s all about digital. Still. The largest area of mobile growth is location-targeted ads. Only 13 percent of businesses in the SAM Survey said they were not currently using mobile advertising but intended to do so in 2019. Across all business categories, SAM also found that 35.5 percent of businesses are using mobile location-aware, while almost 24 percent are using mobile search.
The most popular digital advertising purchased through traditional channels include social and mobile media, email, video, display, and SEO.
The SAM Survey uses a sample of 1,500 businesses of all sizes doing local advertising and promotions, including local, regional, and national businesses.
