US digital ad spend in 2019 will surpass all traditional advertising for the first time, growing to $129.3 billion this year, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast.
Digital advertising is being driven by mobile, which is now more than two-thirds of the digital category, and by TV dollars moving to streaming and online video.
Oh, and Amazon, which grew from 4.5% of digital advertising a year ago to 8.8% now, during a period when Google, Microsoft and Verizon each lost market share and Facebook ticked up by only 0.3%.
Google’s market share dropped by one point in the past year and hasn’t been growing since 2017. Though with 37.2% of all digital advertising in 2019, Google will still see huge returns from overall ad growth.
Facebook is still adding market share, but is near flat through 2021. So with Amazon growing fast, online advertising will be more clearly dominated by a triumvirate than a duopoly moving forward.
The three top platforms combined account for 68% of digital advertising. But advertisers are happy to have another contender, even another ruthless walled garden player.
“Advertisers are still happy with Amazon as a way to diversify from Google and Facebook,” said Monica Peart, eMarketer’s senior forecasting director. She said brands are also honing in on ecommerce shoppers and transaction data.
There are other mobile and video-focused companies growing share, including Hulu, Roku and Snapchat, Peart said. But their growth tends to be in “rounding error terms” for the overall market, and aren’t enough to dent the larger platforms.
