Digital ad spending poised to overtake TV

In 2018, digital’s share of US ad spending will surpass television’s, albeit by a very small margin, 36.4 percent to 36.1 percent, according to a forecast from eMarketer.

Though TV will continue to draw a large number of ad dollars, digital will have the edge as new technologies command more and more of people’s time. “The outlook for the fairly distant future is, by definition, speculative, but there are a variety of factors that will affect the allocation of advertising budgets in the coming years,” says the report.

After hitting a high of 39.1 percent of all US ad spending in 2012, TV’s share will fall steadily over the next four years, down from 38.1 percent in 2014. By contrast, digital will grow steadily over that period. It’s expected to hit 27.9 percent in 2014. Between 2014 and 2018, its share will grow by another 30 percent.

What’s most notable about that growth is how much money will be funneled to mobile in the coming years. In 2012, mobile made up just 2.6 percent of all US ad spending. By 2018, it will account for 24.9 percent, or nearly $1 of every $4 spent. It will make up more than two-thirds of all digital spending.