2021 Online Advertising vs Traditional Advertising Statistics.
Digital ad spend has increased exponentially.
It finally happened. 2016 was the year digital ad spend was higher than TV for the first time. Now, in 2021, it’s not even close. That’s especially amazing considering that in 2000 TV ad spend was 20x higher. TV ads had their first decline during a strong market (both digital and TV ads went down during the economic recessions of 2000 and 2008).
Once 52% inflation from 1999 to 2018 is factored in, TV ads have seen a 20 percent increase, while digital ads have increased an astounding 4,300 percent increase.
One thing is certain, collectively more money is spent on advertisements (online and traditional) than at any other time in recorded history.
While TV ad spending has tapering off, it has still increased overall while digital has expanded.
What does this shift to online advertising mean for businesses and advertising agencies?
TV can still be a viable option for companies, however, my prediction is the TV space will primarily be for mass market consumers and brand awareness. While TV does have some local channels as well as some targeting (for example, showing ads for children’s cereals before cartoons), it pales in comparison to the amount of targeting, tracking and tracking that online platforms allow.
A number of smaller to medium-sized businesses don’t have enormous firms creating a perfectly crafted strategy. If you’re paying top dollars to blast out a message to thousands or millions of people, you’d better be sure it’s just the right one.
The ability to test a variety of video ads, track the result, and continue to monitor the exact results is a game changer for small and medium sized businesses. Testing how people respond to ads inexpensively and quickly is a powerful tool.
While it’s always smart to have a rock solid game plan before throwing money behind an ad campaign, A/B testing allows for you to fine tune the message and the results and keep track of the impact your ad spend is making.
Don’t discount TV advertisements entirely though.
Studies have discovered TV ads are more memorable than online ads. Other studies have found that TV tends to still perform best on key performance indicators like sales and new accounts.
The amount of time people spend watching TV continues to be high, and for many companies, it will continue to be the best way to get new clients. While we’re seeing many corporations use a mix of digital and TV strategies, digital seems to be opening up new opportunities for businesses with highly targeted advertisements to reach new audiences and grow their businesses.
Big changes to online ads; the changing numbers on all social media platforms.
In order to master online advertisement, it’s important to know how many people are on each network and which new social networks are growing the fastest. How do you think you’d find this info?
I have good news, I put together a helpful video that does just that. It features the exact number of users on every platform over the last 18 years. Watch the video below.
Conclusion: Both traditional and online ads are still great options to reach customers, but digital is growing the fastest and presents more opportunities.
Online ads are taking off. Traditional advertisements are still a tried and true, effective way to reach large groups of people, however, online ads give additional levels of targeting which is especially useful for small businesses with limited budgets.
I’ve shown you which social media users have the most users as well as social media trends.
Want an even more in-depth look at what’s going on social media in 2021? Check out my post: What’s the hottest social media network in 2021?
Want some effective social media marketing strategies? I’ve compiled this guide of 111 ACTIONABLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS
If you are looking to learn more about how to create a powerful marketing strategy for your business watch this playlist and get action steps you can follow to make sure you are doing everything possible to keep your business profitable.
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