Meta’s future is muddled by declining Facebook users, slow metaverse adoption and a beleaguered ad model: In response to TikTok's success, Meta will shift focus to video, but will the reactionary move be enough to recover losses?

In 2019, digital ad spending accounted for just over half (54.7%) of total media ad spending. Digital’s share of total media ad spending will reach 75.0% next year, a milestone we previously anticipated reaching in 2025. Display ad spending is growing at a faster clip than any other digital format. In 2022, it will account for 57.7% of digital ad spending and 41.5% of total media spending.

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%.

Worldwide ad spend soars: Total media ad spending will grow faster than anticipated this year, spurred by strong growth in digital and the rapid economic recoveries seen in countries with vaccine access.

The Great Recession was a low point in the recorded history of advertising. Total media ad spending declined for two straight years in the US, and digital ad spending even dropped in absolute terms in 2009, the only time that’s ever happened. But most of the buy-side decision-makers surveyed in late March 2020 by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) think the coronavirus pandemic will have an even worse effect on US ad budgets.

In 2022, TV will account for just 12.4% of total media ad spending, down from 13.3% in 2021, according to our forecast. Digital advertisers are investing more in broadcasters, however, particularly in public-service networks that make their content available online.

However, both countries’ failure to contain the spread of the virus had a profound negative impact on their ad markets, dragging down total media ad spending in the region, too. We now estimate that total media ad spending growth in both countries declined 11.0% in 2020.

We estimate that total media ad spending in Canada shrank by 7.3% YoY last year. Prior to the pandemic, the annual advertising growth trajectory in Canada held fairly steady at around 5%. We forecast that this year, the expected economic recovery will lead to an 11.3% rebound in total media ad spending.

Due to the pandemic, total media ad spending in Germany dropped by 3.9% YoY in 2020, to €18.41 billion ($20.99 billion). But this was a reassuring result, all things considered. Across Western Europe, only the UK posted a smaller contraction (-2.8%).

Brands eagerly jump on the retail media network bandwagon: As access to customer data becomes a priority for brands, retailers see an opportunity to diversify their revenue streams.