As the first quarter of 2019 comes to a close, Zenith has updated its outlook for global advertising. At the end of last year, Zenith analysts predicted a 4% increase in the global advertising market. The revision released this year now calls for a 4.7% growth rate in total global advertising. In addition, the company’s analysts believe 2020 and 2021 will have advertising increases of 4.2% and 4.1%, respectively. And Zenith isn't just talking about large companies. Small business optimism is also contributing to increases in their ad spending plans.

Digital

Not surprisingly, the huge demand for digital advertising is driving the advertising market's growth. At the end of 2018, the anticipated global ad spend on digital was approximately $231 billion. The new figure for digital ad spending is $246 billion. Analysts believe digital growth will amount to about 10% this year. In addition, digital will now amount to 49% of all ad spending, thanks, in part, to small business optimism surrounding the medium and a rising desire to add it to their advertising efforts.

The U.S. market will experience a 5% ad market increase this year, versus the original Zenith projection of a 2.9% increase. At this point, the U.S. accounts for 37% of the total global advertising market.

Projected Changes by Ad Format

The percent changes in the ad market between last year and 2021 (projected) show the strength of digital advertising on a global basis. (Note that the 2018 figures are in parentheses.)

• Newspapers (8.1%) 6.2%
• Magazines (4.4%) 3.1%
• TV (31.9%) 28.5%
• Radio (5.9%) 5.5%
• Cinema (0.7%) 0.9%
• Out-​of-​home (6.5) 6.4%
• Internet display (21.3%) 26.7%
• Internet paid search (17.3%) 18.8%
• Internet classified (3.7%) 3.9%

Small Business Optimism Surrounding Digital Advertising

The huge projected increases in digital display and paid search advertising are driving analyst optimism. The experts point to small to medium-​sized businesses as one of the sources of these ad spending increases. As small business optimism for digital advertising grows, the more businesses such as local coffee shops and shoe stores will spend on platforms like Google and Facebook. Small businesses now own a bigger share of the ad market than they had before. Previously, these types of businesses may have been under-​spending on traditional mass media instead of focusing on digital advertising efforts.

Media sales reps can find opportunity in the local market by helping these small to medium-​sized businesses get the most out of their ad spending on big sites. We all know it's not easy for novices to navigate the complexity of marketing on these sites, and that's what many small business owners are when it comes to the realm of digital ads. To learn more about which consumers take action after seeing ads in search engine results or on social media check out AudienceSCAN at AdMall from SalesFuel​.com.