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

In this Meet the Analyst Webinar, Nicole Perrin, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, explained our latest forecast of US ad spending and the trends driving it.

The consumption of at-home media and entertainment thrived amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the total shutdown of live events and the pause on film and TV production will cause digital ad spending to decline in 2020.

The reports in this collection look at ad spending in the retail, financial services, computing products and consumer electronics, automotive, telecom, travel, health and pharma, media and entertainment, and CPG industries. Countries covered in this report series include the US, UK, and Germany.

Digital ad spending in the US healthcare and pharmaceutical industry will grow by 14.2% to reach $9.53 billion in 2020. Growth is being fueled by ads related to COVID-19, including public service announcements, medical supplies and telemedicine.

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.

The CPG industry will increase its investments in digital advertising this year as strong sales of essential goods and personal care products—particularly on ecommerce platforms—gave advertisers reasons to keep spending during the pandemic.

Digital ad spend by telecom and by computing products and consumer electronics companies will outperform industry averages in 2020. In a difficult year for digital ad spending, they will be two of only three industries to maintain double-digit growth.

From the onset of the pandemic, US consumers have shifted to ecommerce for essential goods and personal care products, which is keeping consumer packaged goods (CPG) digital ad spending afloat. Curated by eMarketer, this collection of insights and interviews will help you understand how CPG marketers are facing the challenges in this industry today. Download this complimentary Roundup “Industry Insights: CPGs Speak Out.”

In a difficult year for retail sales overall, the US retail industry will remain the largest spender on digital advertising among all verticals, despite a huge deceleration in growth.

The financial services sector will continue to increase its investments in digital advertising this year despite the pandemic. Shifting consumer behavior toward digital banking services and heightened interest in personal finance has given financial services companies good reasons to continue advertising.

US B2B digital ad spending in 2020 will grow 22.6% year over year amid the coronavirus pandemic. This report breaks down the market factors and B2B-specific considerations that are driving this increase.

The coronavirus pandemic is putting a major dent in US digital ad spending growth. Outlays will increase by just 1.7% this year—read on to learn what that means for major ad channels and platforms.