Out-of-home ad spending was the hardest-hit ad sector during 2020, according to our estimates. Lingering concerns about crowded public spaces will potentially drag on the sector for years.

YouTube viewing is shifting to connected TV (CTV) screens, a behavioral change that could help make YouTube a powerful alternative for TV advertisers moving dollars to digital video.

Prediction No. 5: Video Will Represent Almost Half of US Programmatic Ad Spending. Programmatic will continue to make inroads in digital video ad buying. In 2020, US marketers will spend $33.42 billion on programmatic video, which will account for 48.8% of all US programmatic digital display ad spending. The share of programmatic spending that goes to video will keep incrementally increasing.

Digital advertising confounded the conditions of the past year or so and will attract more than three-quarters of total media ad spending in 2021—£19.23 billion ($24.66 billion). Video has been the biggest driver of digital spend during this time.

Mobile advertising is by far the preferred destination for digital ad spending in the US, just as it is everywhere else. However, mobile’s ever-accelerating domination of the digital ad market appears to finally be leveling off.

So, when CTV’s share of programmatic spending increases by 2 percentage points, that equates to nearly $3 billion being added to CTV. Programmatic is even catching on with vMVPDs. David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of vMVPD fuboTV, expects that more than 70% of the 2 minutes of ads per hour vMVPDs sell themselves will be sold programmatically next year.

US advertisers increased their investments on digital media by almost 15% last year despite a pandemic and recession, looking for flexibility and accountability.