Global ad sales to top US$1 trillion in 2024, thanks to digital growth

GLOBAL advertising revenue is projected to climb 9.5 per cent to US$1 trillion this year, topping that milestone for the first time, according to a new report from ad buyer GroupM.

The results are largely driven by online advertising, including sites such as Alphabet’s Google, Meta Platforms and Amazon.com, according to Kate Scott-Dawkins, global president of business intelligence at GroupM, who presented the results on Monday (Dec 9) at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York.

“You have Google, Meta and Amazon’s share of total global ad revenue now at 41 per cent,” she said.

The 2024 estimate does not include political advertising in the US, which surged this year due to the presidential election. GroupM forecasts 7.7 per cent growth industrywide in 2025.

Vincent Letang, executive vice-president for global marketing intelligence at Magna, a market researcher, told conference attendees that events such as the Paris Olympics helped boost sales.

“It’s the strongest growth in 25 years if you exclude 2021, the post-Covid rebound year,” Letang said.

Magna’s parent, Interpublic Group of Cos, is being acquired by fellow ad agency Omnicom Group in a deal announced on Monday.

The emergence of ad-supported tiers for streaming services such as Netflix and Comcast’s Peacock is “great news” for the advertising industry, Letang said.

Comcast’s showing of the Olympics on broadcast TV, cable and Peacock had “great results”, Letang said, and prompted Magna to raise its forecast for the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028.

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“It was not obvious that people would be so tolerant to seeing advertising because after all, a lot of people did not see many ads for a few years because they shifted to streaming,” he said. “Now, because the bill starts to add up with all the streaming apps people get, they can save a few bucks by seeing some ads.” BLOOMBERG