Zenith Projects 11 Percent Ad Revenue Gain for 2021

The global advertising market is set to recover this year, according to Zenith, with revenues expected to rise by 11.2 percent, exceeding the pre-pandemic peak by 6 percent.

The Advertising Expenditure Forecasts report indicates that e-commerce advertising and brand advertising on online video will help propel the market to revenues of $669 billion. Digital advertising is expected to take a 58 percent share of total adspend this year, up from 48 percent in 2019.

All regions will see growth in 2021, ranging from 9 percent in Asia Pacific to 15 percent in the Middle East and North Africa. North America will see growth of 13 percent this year.

“Audiences continue to migrate online, and online video viewing is growing rapidly, even as traditional television ratings shrink again after a one-off spike when lockdowns began in 2020,” Zenith reports. “Advertisers value online video as a means of maintaining reach while television declines, but it’s an effective form of brand communication in its own right. Demand is strong, although the popularity of subscription-funded video-on-demand has helped limit the supply of high-quality online video available to advertisers.”

Online video advertising will be the fastest-growing digital channel in 2021, Zenith predicts, rising by 26 percent to reach $63 billion. Television, meanwhile, which shrunk by 8 percent in 2020, is only expected to see a 1 percent gain in 2021. The cost of television advertising is up 5 percent this year on average.

Benoit Cacheux, global chief digital officer at Zenith, commented, “The online video landscape continues to transform, fueled by the growth of streaming services and connected TVs. Its continued evolution requires a radical rethink of how to build the optimal screen-neutral reach model. The ingestion of new data sources into TV planning also creates further opportunities to further sync TV and video planning.”

“After a very tough year last year, the ad market is enjoying rapid and broad-based recovery, and will end this year well above the level it achieved in 2019,” added Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at Zenith. “Digital advertising is becoming a more effective tool for brand growth as media and commerce continue to move online, attracting greater investment from large brands and small businesses alike.”

Zenith expects 6.9 percent growth in 2022 and 5.6 percent in 2023.