Companies are likely to spend more on Internet advertising in 2017 than they will on television, according to a report by media agency Zenith. Also, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, got the largest share of global advertising expenditure in 2016, followed by Facebook.
Together, Google and Facebook account for 20% of the advertising pie, according to Zenith’s Top 30 Global Media Owners report.
What is interesting is the rise in Internet advertising or digital ad spending by companies. From being less that $100 million in 1995, when the internet began to spread, digital spending has touched $181 billion in 2016.
At the same time, the expenditure on television advertising is flat-lining. In 2017, Zenith estimates that internet advertising will touch $204 billion globally, while advertising on television will be about $191 billion. And the gap is set to increase, with digital gaining significantly.
Google raked in $79.38 billion in advertising revenue in 2016, while Facebook managed to get about $26.89 billion. The total global advertising pie in 2016 was estimated at $533 billion, of which the top 30 companies accounted for $236 billion, which is about 44% of the pie.
Baidu, China’s answer to Google, was in the fourth spot with $10.36 billion in ad revenue.
Even though Twitter ranks at 30, in terms of percentage growth, it has started gaining significantly. Its ad revenues increased by 734% between 2012 and 2016 according to the report.
Of the top 30 media companies, seven are pure Internet companies –Google, Facebook, Twitter, Verizon, Yahoo, Microsoft and Baidu.
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