This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Digital Media Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Marketers are finally following consumers to mobile in a big way. Mobile advertising has surpassed desktop search as the largest online ad format in US, climbing to 47% of digital revenue in the first half of 2016 from 30% a year earlier, according to IAB/PwC’s Internet Advertising Report. Meanwhile, desktop search’s 27% share was down 10 percentage points. Overall, digital ad revenue jumped 19% year-over-year (YoY), equaling the largest growth rate since the first half of 2011. Here are the top three takeaways from the report: In order to drive sustained growth into the future, specifically among mobile formats, marketers will need to continue to evolve the way they deliver ads. In the near term, sponsored content will likely propel digital’s growth — while delivering a better user experience — as the line between content and ads continues to blend. In the near future, augmented and virtual reality will present a new and immersive way for brands to target their audience. Consumers continue to increase their time spent consuming digital media, while advertisers continue to increase their ad budgets into digital channels. The influx is not expected to let up in the near future. The US digital advertising industry will continue to experience remarkable growth through 2021 to reach nearly $100 billion in annual revenue, driven primarily by the sustained migration of ad dollars from traditional TV to digital video and the continued increase of social spending. Overall, the strong growth of the US digital ad market can largely be attributed to increased time spent by consumers on digital media and brands' increased comfort with allocating budgets to digital formats, particularly on digital video. In a recent 2016 survey of almost 400 US ad agencies and marketers, the IAB found that two-thirds of respondents plan on increasing spending on digital video in the next year. Moreover, mobile will become the top destination for digital ad spending as advertisers continue to attempt to resolve the disconnect between the rapid growth in time spent on phones and tablets and the relatively small share of ad budgets that are allocated to such platforms — known as the mobile opportunity gap. In fact, mobile is set to eclipse desktop ad spend by 2018. Dylan Mortensen, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on U.S. digital media ad revenue that forecasts revenue trends over the next five years and outlines the key growth drivers for overall digital ad revenue in the U.S. Here are some key points from the report: In full, the report: To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of the following two options: The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of digital media ad revenue.
Mobile advertising claimed 47% of digital revenue in H1 2016, surpassing desktop search for the first time, according to IAB/PwC’s Internet Advertising Report. While non-digital ad formats slipped 1% to $54.3bn during H1 2016, its digital counterpart rose 19% YoY. The report said the spending gap between digital ads and TV narrowed to $7.3bn, with digital expected to overtake TV in 2017, and digital video rose by 178% YoY, reaching $1.6bn. In Q1 2015, mobile accounted for 44% of total revenue, up from 35% a year earlier.