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

In 2020, US B2Bs overhauled their marketing and advertising as the coronavirus pandemic eliminated in-person channels. Digital ad spending, never a central part of B2B go-to market strategies, surged.

Following mixed effects of the pandemic in 2020, the US retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and entertainment industries are rebounding in 2021.

Google exceeds expectations: Based on Tuesday's earnings, we anticipate another upward revision of Google’s ad revenues in our US digital ad spending report, out this fall.

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.