Buoyed by a surge in US digital advertising, spending by the media and entertainment industries has exceeded pre-pandemic expectations and is poised for continued growth.

After an inconsistent year for digital ad spending in 2020, every industry in the US will increase their outlays in 2021. The retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and entertainment industries will provide the biggest boosts, driving up overall digital ad spending by 25.5%.

Digital ad spending across several industries in the UK has been up-and-down the past two years. There will be across-the-board growth this year, but at uneven rates, ranging from 33.0% for travel to 7.8% for automotive.

Digital ad spending by the US media and entertainment industries will increase every year through at least 2023, with combined spending surpassing $26 billion by then.

After a complicated 2020, most industries in Germany will accelerate their digital ad spending growth in 2021. The rebound for travel and auto will underwhelm, but retail spend will soar.

The UK’s digital advertising industry weathered the pandemic remarkably well. Among the industry sectors we track, digital ad spending will rise across the board (which was not universal last year), but these patterns of growth will fluctuate wildly across categories.

In 2020, B2B digital ad spending leaped from 4.9% of the US digital ad market to 5.7%, marking a sizable growth in share for the industry.

The computing products and consumer electronics industry saw increased revenues in 2020, and that bump will accelerate digital ad spending for years to come.

The pandemic has caused the US automotive industry to reduce its digital ad spending by 18.2% in 2020. As car sales plummeted, dealerships closed, and manufacturing slowed, marketers backed off from performance initiatives and focused on branding efforts.

In a difficult year for advertising worldwide, digital ad spending in Germany will see only 0.8% growth. Most of the industries we break out will decelerate their digital ad spend to some degree, while travel and auto will reduce theirs dramatically.