Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2013 as a forecast for 2014. Its figures (3% global ad market growth in 2013, 6% expected in 2014, double-digit digital growth for five years) and predictions have since expired, and Yahoo as a digital advertising leader reflects that time.
The advertising business is showing a clear trend towards digital. The global advertising market grew by only 3% in 2013, while growth of 6% is expected for 2014. Although television is still the most important advertising medium, according to a forecast by Magna Global, it will probably end up being overtaken by digital advertising: while advertising revenue has fallen in media such as magazines and newspapers (-5.1% and -3.3% respectively), digital advertising is the only kind growing at double digits, and it is expected to keep doing so for at least the next five years.
Source: Statista
With European economies stabilising and emerging countries growing, this market will probably establish itself ahead of television advertising revenue, because this kind of advertising is within reach of every single company regardless of size, and any company that wants to sell online or make itself known will find the best marketing strategy for its business in this advertising, which is increasingly targeted at more specific users.
Which companies will lead the digital advertising market?
The companies best placed to keep increasing their advertising revenue are, without a doubt, Google, Facebook and Yahoo, which we could say already lead this market and are fighting to offer digital advertising solutions on mobile.
According to IDC, Google is still seen as the clear winner in this market and could take 40% of the global mobile advertising market. To give an idea of the numbers: although it was said that Google was losing revenue from mobile searches, the company has clearly offset that loss with revenue of 2,200 million in just three months from Play Store, Android’s app store, whose revenue will probably grow by more than 15% thanks to the diversification of the business into films, books, music…
See also: Is Facebook advertising worth it for promoting your business? An opinion
As for Facebook, it will remain the leader in social networking, and it is expected to announce a new idea this Thursday for making money from advertising on both the web and mobile.
Yahoo is making a strong push into this market with a steady stream of acquisitions. It’s worth keeping in mind that its advertising business, the twin of Google’s AdSense, has grown 16% this year.
These three tech giants will probably capture 95% of all web advertising and end up surpassing television advertising in revenue. Some experts are beginning to suggest that TV advertising is becoming obsolete, since its price is very high today, considering that companies can run a low-cost internet marketing strategy and reach a number of users similar to that of programmes with average audiences. Of course, the TV networks are starting to adapt to the new technology.
Featured image: Luis Villa del Campo, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
