Worldwide total media ad spend is expected to record a growth of -4.5% this year to reach $614 billion. This is just slightly up from our previous forecast of -4.9% growth in June 2020, but a sharp contrast to our pre-pandemic estimate of 7.0%.

From midnight on March 23, the UK government enforced the closure of nonessential retail stores in the UK as part of strict lockdown measures. This shuttering was only lifted on June 15. During those intervening 12 weeks, UK consumers wanting to purchase anything other than groceries or medications could not do so in-store.

Based on a bottom-up look at the market, eMarketer has updated our estimates of US digital ad spending this year. eMarketer forecasting analysts Eric Haggstrom and Peter Vahle, along with junior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Nazmul Islam, join eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin to talk about the building blocks of the forecast, what we know about performance at major digital ad sellers, and how it all adds up to the whole. Plus, they put our digital forecast in the context of other major media.

The reports in this collection look at ad spending in the retail, financial services, computing products and consumer electronics, automotive, telecom, travel, health and pharma, media and entertainment, and CPG industries. Countries covered in this report series include the US, UK, and Germany.

This report explores the latest developments in the social media landscape, including a look at TikTok Global, Instagram’s launch of Reels, and new election-related moves from Facebook and Twitter.

In terms of the allocations of spend across industries, 2020 will be a story of two trends. On one hand, digital ad investments (and advertising investments overall, for that matter) in some sectors will decline immensely as a result of those industries facing insurmountable barriers. On the other, the pandemic will allow certain other industries to remain resilient in terms of digital spend, with relatively strong growth forecasts for the year. It comes as no surprise that the automotive and travel industries will experience huge spending declines in 2020. As the UK imposed strict lockdown rules, pretty much all travel was nixed for several months. Investment in digital advertising by these two industries will thus suffer, with spend declining by 20.4% for auto and by 36.7% for travel this year.

The retail industry will continue to lead the pack in terms of digital ad spend in 2020, and the lockdown has helped retail solidify its position. This year, UK digital ad spending in the retail sector will reach £3.02 billion ($3.85 billion).

Digital video viewership in the UK will continue to rise this year. The pandemic has provided a particularly significant impetus for subscription video-on-demand services, while connected TVs have become the consumption device of choice.