China’s total media ad spending and digital ad spending will both grow at their lowest rates since we began tracking them in 2012, but the ad industry is nonetheless set for an eventful year in the world’s second-largest market.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

We estimate that digital ad spending by consumer product good (CPG) brands will hit $30.56 billion this year. What's more is that the CPG sector is one of five industries to devote more than 70% of their total ad budgets to mobile.

These are boom times for digital advertising. While the pandemic battered the economy, the job market, and consumer confidence, it did little to quash a bonanza in digital ad spending. Still, there are challenges ahead for the industry, including grappling with the thorny issue of measuring ad performance across fragmented media platforms and walled gardens.

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.

Identity resolution is in a state of flux in the US advertising industry, with third-party browser cookies and mobile IDs being ushered out in the name of consumer privacy.

Marketers within the insurance industry will zero in on how to best utilize digital ad budgets, as spending growth settles at more modest levels.

TikTok’s hold on the social media industry is impossible to ignore: The video app and other visually oriented platforms thrive with key demographics.