U.S. online ad market growth continues

Publication date: 22 October 2019

In the first half of 2019, internet ad revenues in the U.S. totaled $57.9 billion, representing 16.9% year-over-year growth. According to the IAB latest report, the growth rate of the same period in 2018 was 23.1%. Full year 2018 revenues amounted to $107.5 billion. This year, internet ad revenues are expected to reach $120 billion.

Revenues by format

In the first half of the year, mobile ad revenues were $39.9 billion or 69% of total internet ad revenues. Mobile grew by 29.1% year-over-year.

Desktop ad revenues were $18 billion or 31% of the total.

The majority of internet ad revenues (76%) was concentrated with the top 10 leading ad-selling companies.

The distribution of ad revenues by format remained almost unchanged from 2018.

In particular, paid search represented 45% of first-half revenues ($26.5 billion) that is 1% down from 2018.

The share of banner ads also decreased by 1% year-over-year but revenues grew to $17.9 billion from $15.8 billion.

Video ad revenues grew to $9.3 billion from $6.9 billion.

Social media ad revenues were up by nearly 26% to $16.5 billion.

The IAB report shows that mobile advertising remains the main driver of the online ad market. At the same time, there is a growth in almost all format categories.