The Interactive Advertising Bureau reports that advertising spending on all digital platforms in 2021 jumped $50 billion to $189 billion. Digital audio saw the largest increase, up 57.9% to $4.9 billion.
“We fully expected 2021 to be an exceptional year for digital ad growth, but even we were surprised at the degree of acceleration. Not only was every single digital channel up, but some were up more than 50% year on year,” said Libby Morgan, SVP, Chief Strategy Officer, IAB. “This year’s increase is 3x what it was last year.”
“What’s underneath these numbers is a very clear narrative. We are witnessing the total and complete democratization of access afforded by ad-supported digital channels,” said David Cohen, Chief Executive Officer, IAB. “Increased consumer usage coupled with extraordinary growth of small and mid-sized businesses during the pandemic has fueled growth across all digital — but especially digital audio and video. We expect this digital migration to drive the continued growth of a healthy and competitive digital marketplace driven by innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Social media advertising was up 39.3% to $57.7 billion.
While search revenue grew substantially (32.8%) in 2021, it did not grow as strong as other areas, leading to a slight decrease in total revenue share (reduction of 0.8 percentage points).
