Since the advent of the browser-based web, a parade of pundits have predicted the death of advertising. The pre-internet advertising channels were doomed because they could not be personalized in ways that target individual customers, they argued. And internet advertising was dooming itself, said others, crushing under the weight of ubiquitous pop-up promotions enticing us to click 30 pages of a slide show revealing what 1980-era celebrities look like today. But something strange happened on the way to advertising’s funeral: It is growing at a record pace.

This year (2016), advertising in the U.S. will grow at over twice the rate of the overall economy, according to forecasts by Warc, an advertising research firm. The current year-end forecast represents an upgrade of nearly one percentage point (or, 18.3%) over their prediction made last December.

$178 Billion | U.S. advertising spending in 2016, a record high
+5.8% | Increase in total advertising spending over 2015, the fastest rate since 2010
+6.6% | Percentage increase in TV advertising spent (Olympics and presidential election helped boost spending)
$68 Billion | TV advertising spending

2017 Advertising growth or decline, by media

Next year will likely be the year the internet surpasses TV as the largest advertising channel.

+13.7% | Internet advertising ($76 Billion, 1/2 Mobile)
 +5.1% | Movie in-theater advertising
+3.3% | Outdoor advertising
 -2.8% | Radio advertising
 -4.5% | TV advertising ($65 Billion)
-12.4% | Magazine advertising
-12.7% | Newspaper advertising

Advertising trivia

$553.70 | The amount of advertising spent for for every man, woman and child in the US next year, up $60 from five years earlier.

VIA | Warc.com
HT / Six Pixels of Separation “Advertising. Full Steam Ahead“