According to a recently published study from The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) [www.iab.net] Internet ad revenues rose 17% over 2012 numbers to a staggering $42.8 billion, surpassing broadcast television revenues for the first time. Broadcast isn’t dead quite yet, turning in a healthy $40.1 billion revenue, however, the relatively new kid on the block, mobile, has seen three straight years of triple-digit growth.
“The news that interactive has outperformed broadcast television should come as no surprise,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “It speaks to the power that digital screens have in reaching and engaging audiences. In that same vein, the staggering growth of mobile is clearly a direct response to how smaller digital screens play an integral role in consumers’ lives throughout the day, as well as their critical importance to cross-screen experiences.”
The boom in mobile growth should come as no surprise to anyone as all the statistics out there are showing mobile outpacing desktops when it comes to Internet access (and will soon eclipse desktops in just about all categories). According to a press release published on the IAM site, “For the third year in a row, mobile achieved triple-digit growth year-over-year, rising to $7.1 billion during full year 2013, a 110 percent boost from the prior year total of $3.4 billion. Mobile accounted for 17 percent of 2013 revenues, whereas it was 9 percent of revenues in 2012.”
According to David Silverman, Partner, at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP [www.pwc.com] who helped compile the report, “Our survey confirms that we are fully in transition to the post-desktop era. Triple digit advertising revenue growth from mobile devices contrasted the more tepid 8 percent growth from traditional computer screens. This is simply a reflection of the change in how and where consumers are viewing their information—on the go!”
A few other notable tid-bits in the report show that digital video adds are on the uptick as well. “Digital video, a component of display-related advertising, brought in $2.8 billion in full year 2013, up 19 percent over revenues of $2.3 billion in 2012. As a result, it also increased its share to become the fourth largest format, directly behind mobile.”
Search and display advertising revenues also climbed last year with search up 9 percent from 2012 to $18.4 billion in 2013, and display-related advertising revenues in 2013 totaled $12.8 billion a rise of 7 percent over 2012 numbers.
Of course things are going to get very murky in the coming years (particularly for IAB) when they have to start trying to separate ad revenues into categories like smart TV ads, On Demand ads, and digital media ads served to TVs, and…
You can read the full IAB report here.
