NEW YORK—Improved economic conditions, which boosted the total U.S. ad spend by 31.8% in the first half of 2021, have prompted Magna to revise upwards their U.S. ad forecasts, with a new prediction that total advertising will climb by 23.2% to $277.6 billion for 2021 and that video advertising on TV, OTT and digital will see a 11.4% increase to $75.7 billion for 2021.
In the video sector, the fastest growing areas will be connected TVs and OTT (expected to grow 34% to $5.4 billion in 2021) and digital video (up 45.8% to $12.4 billion).
But national broadcast and cable spending will see a healthy increase of 7.4% to $40.0 billion and local broadcast and cable will increase by 17.9% to $17.4 billion in 2021 if exceptional items like spending for elections and the Olympics are excluded.
Otherwise local broadcast and cable would see a 4.7% decline.
Social media was another bright spot in the advertising forecast, with a projected 36% increase to $58.8 billion in 2021.
Vincent Letang, executive vice president of Global Market Intelligence at MAGNA noted that “the unprecedented growth in advertising spending in the first half (+32%) was more than low comps due to the COVID lockdown and recession last year. It was caused by a unique combination of national brands reconnecting with consumers and competing for a limited amount of traditional media inventory, while the lasting changes of COVID on lifestyles and marketing methods continue to fuel huge digital advertising spending from both big brands and small businesses. These ongoing organic growth engines, combined with Olympic budgets and the Mid-Term election spending, will continue to generate double-digit spending growth in the second half and into 2022.
