As we move through the upfront season, prepare for May’s newfronts and gear up for INTX 2016 soon after, the topic du jour has become advertising—specifically the astounding growth of digital ad revenues and its relation to cable. Let’s take a look at the latest numbers from IAB.

Digital advertising revenues in the U.S. amounted to $59.6 billion in 2015, according to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report from IAB conducted by PricewaterHouseCoopers. It’s an all-time high and represents a 20.4% increase from 2014. Broken down by quarter, Q4 of ’15 accounted for $17.4 billion (an 18.3% YOY increase) and Q3 for $17.3 billion (a 22.8% YOY increase).

When considering market share by media type, Internet advertising revenue far surpassed both broadcast television and cable. Compared to the Internet’s $59.6 billion, broadcast had $40.6 billion and cable had $25.7 billion. Every year since 2010, Internet advertising annual revenue has experienced double-digit growth—with no other type of media boasting that kind of increase.

Screen Shot 2016-04-21 at 3.45.38 PM

Most impressive was the rise of mobile advertising, which increased 66% for the whole year, reaching $20.7 billion. And mobile as a category accounted for 40% of Q4 revenues alone, which totaled $6.9 billion, a 77% increase from the $3.9 billion in Q4 ’14.

Meanwhile, non-mobile digital video, a component of display-related advertising, hit $4.2 billion in 2015, a 30 percent increase over $3.3 billion in 2014. And when looking at social media advertising, defined as advertising delivered on social platforms, including social networking, social gaming websites and apps, it earned $10.9 billion in 2015, up 55% YOY.

In terms of categories, the largest continues to be retail advertisers, which accounted for 22% last year. Automotive and financial services each took 13% of ad revenue share.

The Daily

Subscribe

Hulu, Disney+ Combo Goes Live

The Disney+ and Hulu combination went live in the U.S. on Wednesday, making the move to house all Hulu content on the Disney+ app official following a testing period. Hulu content will begin to appear in

Read the Full Issue
The Skinny is delivered on Tuesday and focuses on the cable profession. You'll stay in the know on the headlines, topics and special issues you value most. Sign Up

Calendar

Apr 25
2024 Cablefax 100 Awards Magazine Release: April 25, 2024
Jun 13
2024 American Broadband Congress Conference Registration is Open!
Jun 26
2024 FAXIES Awards Nominations Are Open!
Full Calendar

Jobs

Seeking an INDUSTRY JOB?
VIEW JOBS

Hiring? In conjunction with our sister brand, Cynopsis, we are offering hiring managers a deep pool of media-savvy, skilled candidates at a range of experience levels and sectors, The result will be an even more robust industry job board, to help both employers and job seekers.

Contact Rob Hudgins, [email protected], for more information.