Pandemic Didn't Prevent Digital Ad Revenue From Increasing In 2020, According To IAB Report

Annual Revenue Report

The INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU has released its latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, showing a 12.2% year-to-year increase in digital ad revenue for 2020 despite the pandemic. A 5.2% decline in second quarter was offset by 11.7% and 28.7% increases in third and fourth quarter 2020, respectively, with the latter reaching a record amount.

“The second half of 2020 made up for the rather abrupt drop in advertising revenue experienced toward the end of the second quarter,” said IAB SVP/Research and Analytics SUSAN HOGAN. “We not only had a rebound, we also had double-digit growth. The Q4 holiday season sales, typical use-it-or-lose-it year-end spending of media budgets, and revenue from political advertising all helped to offset the early COVID-19-induced decline.

“The surge in consumer adoption of Connected TV, ecommerce shopping, and at-home deliveries created the pendulum swing needed for digital media to continue growing. These are just some of the factors that contributed to ad dollars moving from traditional media to digital media.”

Social media advertising revenues rose 16.3% year-to-year to $41.5 billion, which represents 29.6% of all internet advertising revenue. Digital video rose 20.6% to $26.2 billion. Programmatic advertising revenues increased 24.9%, and HOGAN said, “We expected programmatic growth in double digits. Advertisers are using automated buying for more formats now, including CTV. The fact that Q2 2020 saw a shift from performance to mission-based messaging due to COVID-19 accelerated the speed of programmatic adoption for agencies and brands. However, there is some concern that programmatic delivery could be negatively impacted once 3rd party tracking is blocked.”

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