Two recently released reports are not only putting an optimistic look at advertising spend in the coming year, but also pointing directly to the technological advances many are taking to make that a reality.
The first bit of good news comes from the Winterberry Group, who estimate 2023’s ad spend to come in at $509 billion, up 6% from last year’s $481 billion. Their findings, released in last week’s “The Outlook for Advertising, Marketing and Data 2023” report, put 60% of that total spend ($307 billion) occurring on online channels.
“The Winterberry Group’s report pushes back against some of the grimmer trends seen in the second half of 2022, when the industry began losing steam,” writes Sara Karlovitch of Marketing Dive. “Inflation and economic woes have put a strain on the industry, leaving some in fear of what 2023 will hold. While digital growth is likely to decelerate in the months ahead, overall it will remain strong, with certain sectors expected to see significant growth, per the report.”
In a statement, Bruce Biegel, Winterberry Group’s Senior Managing Partner, said that spend is likely to shift amongst channels as well as “among providers who have the ability to target hard to reach niche audiences.” (For more insights from Winterberry Group’s report, visit winterberry.com.)
That targeting, and the investment in digital ad technology, speaks to the trends seen by Smartly.io in their fourth annual Digital Advertising Report. Having listened to marketing professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada, Smartly.io reports that the adoption of automated processes continues to inform digital advertising and marketing plans.
“Compared to previous years,” Smartly.io writes, “most respondents (81%) have already invested in automation for digital advertising campaign creation and digital ad creation (89%), yet a significant portion of these respondents acknowledge they still need to optimize these processes.”
Smartly.io says technology has helped bridge divides between creative and advertising teams and “provide a way to scale ad creative effectively across platforms.” According to their findings, 60% of respondents are putting additional investments into digital advertising tools and technology this year. (To see the entire eBook, visit smartly.io.)
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