Forecast: Digital Ad Spending Will Top Broadcast This Year
According to the "U.S. Media Industry Forecast," an annual study by FTI Consulting, that core online advertising* will surpass broadcast television's long-held dominance of media ad spending in 2015 and will become the single largest ad class by next year.
The firm's Media & Entertainment experts believe core online advertising will climb from $37.5 billion in 2014 to $41.8 billion this year and $55.6 billion by 2018.
The estimated annual growth rate of 10.3 percent for digital ad spending forecast by the Media & Entertainment team stands in sharp contrast to a projected 4.2 percent average annual increase for the broadcast sector over the same five-year period. Broadcast ad revenues are expected to rise minimally in 2015 to $38.9 billion and to $45.5 billion by 2018.
With core online double-digit gains by 2016, the firm's Media & Entertainment experts estimate that core online advertising will surpass both broadcast and direct mail (still a very significant part of the ad market) as the single largest advertising category, with direct mail remaining virtually flat at approximately $44.2 billion by 2018.
*Excludes online advertising revenues captured by traditional media businesses, such as television broadcasters, newspapers and magazines.
Webs Announces Pagemodo Social Ads
Webs, the digital services business of Vistaprint, announced the availability of social ads on its social media marketing tool, Pagemodo. The new tool allows small businesses to easily design, target, publish and analyze ad campaigns on Facebook.
The company notes that as new Facebook algorithm changes take effect in 2015, content identified as overly promotional from businesses will potentially be omitted from users’ News Feeds. Thus, small businesses that previously relied on the social network to promote sales, sweepstakes or their products will likely need to find new ways to reach their target audiences. Paid advertising provides SMBs a way of running highly targeted ads on a relatively small budget.
Since most small businesses don't have the dedicated graphic designers or advertising experts traditionally needed to implement effective paid social media campaigns, the new tool helps small business managers design professional-looking ads, target the right audience, publish directly to Facebook and analyze the campaign results. To learn more or start creating Pagemodo social ads, visit www.pagemodo.com/facebook-ads.
Instant Imprints Names SAGE a Primary Preferred Provider
Franchisor Instant Imprints announced that it has selected SAGE, a leading provider of information, marketing and business management solutions to the promotional products industry, to provide promotional product research and other marketing support for its franchisees.
As part of the relationship, SAGE will provide Instant Imprints franchisees a special corporate discount on its promotional products research, business management and marketing tools. This includes a discount on a SAGE Total Access Subscription (SAGE Online, the product research and business management tool; SAGE Mobile; and SAGE Web, the browser-based platform to access SAGE tools from any device with web access). Instant Imprints will also be incorporating PPAI's professional development resources into franchisee training programs. This is part of the Power of Two program, a PPAI and SAGE strategic alliance to provide the industry with the combined benefits of a PPAI membership and SAGE products and services.
Consumer Spending Down; Savings Up
Personal spending, which measures purchases of everything from home appliances to haircuts, barely inched lower in April, the Commerce Department reported this week. Consumer spending fell by $2.6 billion, a statistically insignificant sum, but the weakest performance in three months. The personal saving rate jumped to 5.6 percent of after-tax incomes — the second highest level since December 2012.