Social media ads to overtake television ads in 2022
According to global media agency Zenith, advertising expenditure on a number of social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram, will jump to $177 billion (£133 billion) whilst television will top $174 billion (£131 billion) next year.
A return to pre-pandemic levels
This prediction comes as global advertising expenditures are set to top the pre-pandemic level of $634 billion (£478 billion) this year, a figure that was last reached in 2019. It is then expected to grow 9.1% next year after a 15.6% jump in 2021 to a staggering $705 billion (£532 billion) as the advertising industry continues to return to some sense of normalcy.
Zenith, which blends data and technology, outlined the industry’s dramatic recovery after dropping 3.9% during 2020 at the UBS Global Telecom, Media & Technology Conference earlier this week: “The global ad market will continue its remarkable recovery from the 2020 downturn,” they said.
In late 2020, the global media agency also projected a global ad rebound of around 5.6% this year. This figure was then upgraded to 11.2% in July. This is expected to grow at a year-on-year rate before hitting $873 billion (£659 billion) in 2024 “as brands continue using advertising to spur further growth in e-commerce.”
The rise of social media
In addition to stratospheric advertising expenditure, the report also highlighted the rise of social media, and TikTok and Instagram in particular, and forecasted that it will overtake television by the end of next year alone: “Social media ad spend will rise to $225 billion (£169 billion) by 2024, when it will account for 26.5% of all advertising, followed by paid search at 22.5% and television at 21%,” they said.