eMarketer: US digital ad spend to surpass TV next year

Total digital ad spend in the US will surpass TV spend for the first time next year, marking a “major milestone” for the industry, according to eMarketer.

The research firm said that US TV ad spend will climb to US$72.01 billion in 2017, representing 35.8% of total media ad spend. However, total digital ad spend will grow more to reach US$77.37 billion, accounting for 38.4% of total US ad spend.

Lowering its TV ad growth projections since its last forecast, eMarketer predicted that TV ad spend will grow by just 2.5% this year and then continue to grow by about 2% a year.

However, by by 2020, TV ad spending’s share will drop to less than a third of total media ad spending for the first time in the US, according to the report.

By comparison, eMarketer has raised its digital ad projection and now tips total digital ad spend to increase 15.4% this year, with mobile ad spend in the US to grow 38.0%.

“We still expect positive growth for TV ad spend, driven by political advertising and the summer Olympics. However, we see more ad dollars flowing to digital as a way of optimising spending in what may be a challenging economic year,” said eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Martín Utreras.

“As consumers continue to increase engagement with mobile devices for daily activities and content consumption, marketers will further integrate all marketing activities – including advertising – to the mobile category.”