Global spending on product placement was projected to be $23.3 billion in 2021, per PQ Media. That’s a 13.8% increase versus 2020, a significantly greater growth rate than marketing spending (5.9%) on the whole. Despite that, product placement is less favored as a brand touchpoint across generations, falling behind most others in a 2021 Data Axle study.

Since Meta makes up 21.4% of the worldwide digital ad market this year, any change in retail and ecommerce ad spending on its platforms will tell us a lot about what the rest of the year will hold for digital advertising. The platforms must double down on their appeal to performance advertisers.