Online Advertising

For the first time in U.S. history, marketers project to spend more on online advertising than on advertising in print magazines and newspapers.

According to a study released Thursday by eMarketer, online advertising expects to generate $39.5 billion in sales this year — a 23.3% increase from 2011 . This is comparing to a sum of $33.8 billion on print.

That’s impressive growth, especially since 2011 also witnessed a 23% jump in online ad spending, according to eMarketer’s calculations. Online ad revenues should continue to grow over the next half-decade, albeit at a more modest rate. It’s projected total online ad investment to hit $62 billion by that time.

The forecast for print is foreboding. Marketers expect to continue cutting their print advertising budgets for the next half-decade spending $32.3 billion in 2016. It’s 10% less than what they invested in print ads in 2011.

Spending on TV promises to have little affect from growing online ad budgets. However, the gap between the two should narrow significantly. U.S. marketers expect to spend $72 billion in TV advertising in 2016, up 18.6% from 2011.

Overall, it looks to be a healthy year for the ad industry, with total U.S. ad spending forecast to grow by 6.7% to $169.5 billion. eMarketer attributes the bump to investment in campaigns ads and mobile advertising. Total ad spending should reach nearly $200 billion by 2016, of which online will account for a third.

Source: Lauren Indvik