Digital to Drive U.S. Ad Market to New Highs Through 2022

BY Kathy Crosett
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Between now and 2022, digital will be the force that drives the U.S. media advertising market. That message comes across loud and clear in PwC’s most recent annual forecast.

This year, the U.S. digital ad market will be worth $99.8B. By 2022, marketers will be spending $127.4B to get their message out through channels such as search, social and mobile. The 27% growth rate will far exceed what other advertising formats will experience in the same time period.

TV

TV is expected to grow from $71B to $74.9B in the next four years. By 2022, only $5.7B of the industry’s revenue will be linked to digital. Though the growth rate of about 1.3% is slow when compared to digital, analysts believe TV has strengths. Marketers seeking to introduce new products to mass audiences will find success using the format.

Magazine

Consumer magazines will likely bring in $16.4B in ad money this year. By 2022, that figure will be more like $14.85B in 2022. About half, or $7.1B, will be digital ad money. Interestingly, analysts believe the annual 2.2% decline won’t only be driven by a drop in print magazine advertising. They’re also expecting a slowing growth rate for digital magazine advertising.

Radio

Radio’s annual 1% growth rate from $17.7B to $18.4B in the next four years is largely related to continued consumer attention to this format. Demand for terrestrial radio online advertising will drive the increase. Online radio ad revenue, projected at $2.2B by 2022, will comprise about 12% of the industry total. About 11% of U.S. adults already enjoy this listening format. To learn more about them, check out the AudienceSCAN profile on AdMall from Salesfuel.

Newspaper

Industry advertising revenues for newspapers will drop from $15.8B to $12.6B between now and 2022. Digital ads for this sector will continue to grow and will amount to 45% of industry revenue in 2022.

Out-​of-​Home

As a traditional media channel, OOH shows promise. Operators will see last year’s total take of $9.65B jump to $11.5B in 2022. Digital will again be the growth vehicle for the industry and will amount to about 40.7% of the total in 2022.

This year, PwC also included a few smaller formats in its ad projections. Estimated sales figures for 2018 appear below. The 2022 figures are in parentheses:

  • Video game advertising $1.5B ($1.8B)
  • Cinema advertising $0.92M ($1.02B)
  • Podcast advertising $369M ($747M)

Remind your clients that the best ad strategy is one that includes a mix of digital and traditional media formats.


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