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Mobile Monday: Mobile Video Fuels Record Digital Ad Spend

Posted May 20, 2019

Two recent studies have confirmed the undeniable power of mobile video. Digital advertising spend in the United States was reported as exceeding $100 billion for the first time, thanks to mobile video. Meanwhile, a study suggests that 5G connection speeds will further accelerate mobile ad spend. Get all the details in this week’s Mobile Monday!

Digital Ad Spend Exceeds $100 Billion
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released its Internet Advertising Revenue Report, a research study conducted independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report stated that digital advertising spending in the United States exceeded $100 billion for the first time last year, reaching a landmark $107.5 billion. The full-year total was a 22% year-over-year increase from $88.3 billion in 2017.

The driving force behind the historic numbers was mobile revenue, which totaled $69.9 billion. This total represented 65% of total revenue and showed an increase of 40% from the previous year’s total of $50.1 billion. Mobile ad revenue surpassed desktop in 2016, but the gap between the mediums will continue to expand as users’ habits change.

IAB also specified video as a critical growth driver for digital ad spend. Digital video saw the largest rise among all formats, surging to $16.3 billion in 2018, up 37% from 2018. Mobile and video as a pair made major contributions to the historic numbers in 2018. Growth of digital video on smartphones and tablets continued, reaching $10.2 billion, a 65.2% rise from the previous year.

5G Accelerates Mobile Video Growth
PubMatic, a publisher-focused sell-side platform, released their Quarterly Mobile Index for Q1 2019. The company analyzed over 13 trillion advertiser bids through the PubMatic platform to develop key insights into the mobile advertising industry. PubMatic saw mobile ad spending through their platform speed up growth to 29% year-over-year in Q1 2019 in comparison to the 20% growth between Q1 2017 and Q1 2018.

The report confirms IAB’s findings that video has driven the significant growth of mobile ad revenue. Additionally, almost half (48%) of all video impressions served by PubMatic were through mobile devices in Q1 2019, up from about 37% last year. Furthermore, the share of video ad dollars monetized on mobile devices grew from 31% in Q1 2018 to 43% in Q1 2019. The Quarterly Mobile Index states that mobile devices are expected to be the preferred platform for video ad placement by the end of the year.

As mobile ad spend accelerates, Pubmatic identifies 5G networks as a key factor in even more growth. Wireless carriers plan to extend coverage across the United States over the next couple of years, allowing for faster download times for video content. Telecom manufacturer, Ericsson forecasts that video will account for 74% of mobile data traffic by 2024. The spread of 5G coverage would allow advertisers to serve more interactive and powerful video ads to mobile users.

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