Revenue for the first half is less than the previous second half for the first time.
Online ad spending in the US in the first half of 2019 reached around $58 billion, but growth slowed down to 16.9%, the IAB said. Last year’s digital ad revenue was $107.5 billion and is expected to reach $120 billion by the end of this year.
The data found that mobile ad revenues were 69% of the total spends in the first half of 2019, while desktop revenues were only 31%. Paid search ad spending with $26.5 billion further accounted for 45% of first-half revenues, while display bought in $17.5 billion.
Social media revenues went up nearly 26% to $16.5 billion, while audio advertising grew 30% to $1.2 billion. The researchers attribute the growth of audio mainly to the “emergence of smart speakers."
[2 minute read]