Few good things came from the COVID-19 pandemic. But one has been the surge in demand for digital advertising media. In 2021 alone, digital ad revenue experienced year-over-year growth of 35.4%, according to IAB’s Internet Advertising Revenue Report. That’s the highest growth digital advertising has experienced since 2006! The result: internet advertising revenue totaled $189.3 billion last year. “As consumers time spent and attention on digital media channels continues to grow,” reports IAB, “Advertising expenditures allocated to digital media are following.” Let’s take a look at what IAB estimates 2022 holds for the future of this ad medium.

How Digital Advertising Changed in 2021

IAB believes that digital advertising will become the “de-facto” media delivery mechanism. In 2021, the top performing digital media ad types were:

Search: 41.4%
Display: 30%
Digital Video (including CTV and OTT): 20.9%

Other honorable mentions are digital audio and social media.

Those percentages only account for the total advertising revenue these digital media types brought in last year. So, let’s take a look at revenue growth to see which types of digital advertising media types are increasing in popularity.

Digital Audio (including podcasting): This medium’s digital advertising revenue increased by 57.9% year-over-year in 2021
Digital Video (including CTV and OTT): 50.8%
Social: 39.3%
Programmatic (including search): 39%
Search: 32.8%

So, while programmatic, search and display ads are the top dogs in digital advertising revenue dollars, let your clients know that they shouldn’t be sleeping on digital audio, digital video and social ads.

How to Succeed in 2022

According to IAB, there are a few digital advertising industry trends that marketers need to keep in mind for 2022.

Digital Revenue Will Increase

As more companies continue to pour ad dollars into their digital efforts, they’ll not only support old reliable initiatives, but branch out a bit as well. IAB says, “Sustained ad growth between 2021 and 2022 will also flow into other digital channels such as gaming and esports. The rapid growth of both ad monetization embedded in gaming and emerging devices/experiences (such as VR and the metaverse) will likely provide further revenue opportunities for publishers, content creators and tech companies.”

E‑commerce is another trend of the pandemic that is estimated to continue. So, marketers would be wise to keep that in mind when deciding which products to advertise with their digital advertising.

Mobile is Gaining Power

Speaking of e‑commerce, smartphone shopping in particular is at an all-time high. 41% of consumers say that they shop daily or weekly using their smartphones. “The proliferation of mobile video and gaming, as well as the continued adoption of mobile e‑commerce, were key contributors to the growth of increased revenue streams,” for mobile advertising, says IAB. In 2021, mobile advertising revenue grew by 37.8% to reach a total ad spend of $135 billion. Overall, mobile ad revenue makes up 71.3% of digital advertising revenue. So, your clients shouldn’t let up on mobile ads and formatting their digital ads to be easily read and interacted with on mobile devices, especially smartphones.

Diversity is Key

The U.S. population continues to diversify. As it does, consumers are paying more attention to which companies continue to ignore inclusion efforts. Consumers want to see a more diverse cast of races, ethnicities and sexual orientations in advertising. The demand for diversity, equity and inclusion in digital advertising cannot be overstated. Make sure your client’s ads have adequate representation.

Know Which Ads Your Client’s Customers Respond to

For more information on which types of digital advertising your client’s target customers respond to, take a look at their audience profiles on AdMall by SalesFuel. There, you’ll be able to see which types of ads caused the highest percentage of these consumers to take action last year.

Photo by Emmanuel Ikwuegbu