Digital advertising saw $72.5 billion revenue in 2016, a 22% upswing from the previous year.
Step aside, TV and desktop: Digital advertising revenue surged nearly 22% to $72.5 billion for the 2016 calendar year, up from the $59.6 billion reported in 2015, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said Thursday in a report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Although it marks eight consecutive record breaking years, the IAB’s report represents the first time mobile has overtaken desktop spending, and the first time digital as a whole has passed TV ad spend.
Here are five takeaways from this year’s report.
TV is no longer No. 1 in ad spend
The IAB began recording digital ad spend in 2004 and since that time, it has never surpassed TV in the United States — until now.
TV captured roughly $71.3 billion in domestic revenues in 2016, according to eMarketer, just under digital advertising’s $72.5 billion in the IAB’s digital ad revenue report.
IPG Mediabrands’ Magna has also recently concluded that digital ad spending outstripped TV last year, when TV ad sales in the U.S. generated $67 billion, according to Magna. In its report, Magna said packaged goods companies were concentrating television spending on fewer brands and products, and even launching some new products without national TV campaigns.
Indeed, digital video hit a record $9.1 billion in 2016, a 53% upswing year-over-year, the IAB said. On mobile, video revenue skyrocketed 145% from the previous year to $4.2 billion.
IAB: The media has overstated the scale of the so-called duopoly
Last year, Facebook reported $27.6 billion in global revenue while Google reported $89.6 billion.
Burak Bakay 