On-site search ads were the most common format (67% of respondents), slightly edging out on-site display/banner ads (66%) and connected TV (CTV) video ads (65%). More than half of respondents were involved in buying across off-site video and display/banner and in-store display ads.
Display ads like banners and graphics, which have historically been less of a priority than search ads for B2B marketers, took up a greater share of US ad spending than ever before in 2020.
According to our July 2021 forecast, 2023 will be a pivotal year for the US B2B digital ad market: Display will overtake search, mobile will surpass nonmobile, and the split between digital and traditional will near a tipping point just beyond our forecast period.
We estimate that last year, US digital display ad spending increased by 20.0%—and within that category, video ad spending grew 30.1%, continuing to take share from other display formats like banners. This year, for the first time, more than half of all digital display spending in the US will go toward video ads, including both in-stream and outstream video formats.