Global advertising revenue to exceed $1 trillion for first time in 2024

Proceeding from an article published by Financial Times, the global advertising industry is set to surpass $1 trillion in revenue for the first time this year.

The global advertising industry is set to surpass $1 trillion in revenue for the first time this year, with tech giants such as Google, Meta, ByteDance, Amazon, and Alibaba projected to capture over half of the total market share. Despite economic challenges in major developed markets like the US and UK, GroupM, the media agency owned by WPP, predicts a 9.5 per cent increase in global advertising revenue in 2024, a better-than-expected result. The group also forecasts a 7.7 per cent market expansion in 2025, with the majority of growth benefiting the top digital advertising sellers in the US tech sector, rather than traditional marketing service providers like advertising agencies.

GroupM has opted to exclude US political advertising from its calculations, citing its "skewing" effect on year-over-year comparisons. In 2024, US political ad revenue is expected to contribute an additional $15.1 billion, nearly a third more than during the 2020 presidential election. 

In the report, GroupM noted that "while the next several years are unlikely to have the same near-zero interest rates that further supported advertising growth following the financial crisis and through the pandemic, we do expect the further application of AI and automation . . . to more than offset that and drive further innovation."

Digital advertising is projected to make up 73 per cent of total advertising revenue by the end of next year, with a global growth rate of 12.4 per cent in 2024 and 10 per cent in 2025. This figure rises to 82 per cent when including revenue from streaming platforms and digital newspapers and magazines. In contrast, traditional advertising channels such as television, print, and radio are struggling under the dominance of digital alternatives.

Globally, print advertising revenue is expected to decline by 4.5 per cent in 2024, followed by an additional 3 per cent drop in 2025. Audio revenue is forecast to remain flat, while TV advertising—encompassing both linear and streaming—is expected to grow by just 2.4 per cent on a compound basis from 2024 to 2029.

The United States remains the largest advertising market, projected to reach about $379 billion in revenue by 2025, despite challenges posed by higher borrowing costs and cautious forecasts from certain retailers, including those in electronics and home improvement sectors.

By Naila Huseynova