Digital ad spending to top traditional for first time

Amazon continues to eat away at the duopoly of Facebook and Google with an increase in share of 8.8 percent. Digital ad spending in the U.S. will exceed traditional ad spending in 2019, according to a forecast out Wednesday by eMarketer. Much of that share will come from Google and Facebook, with Amazon gaining speed from behind. The report predicts that digital will make up more than two-thirds of total U.S. media spending by 2023. The numbers. Digital ad spending is forecasted to grow 19 percent to $129.34 billion this year, and will make up more than half (54.2 percent) of total U.S. ad spending. At $87.06 billion, mobile will account for more than two-thirds of that amount. Amazon’s U.S. ad business will swell more than 50 percent this year and its share of the U.S. digital ad market will increase to 8.8 percent, knocking into the share formerly enjoyed by heavy hitters Google, Facebook, Verizon and Microsoft. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released revenue numbers earlier this month showing that digital ad revenues rose to $26.2 billion in the third quarter of 2018, capping off what it calls the industry’s “highest-spending first three quarters on record” — a 20.6 percent increase over 2017.