IAB: Paid search was 48 percent of total digital spend in 2016
Spending declined on the desktop but grew by nearly $6 billion overall because of mobile.
Paid search advertising accounted for roughly $35 billion in 2016, split almost evenly between the desktop and mobile. That’s according to the IAB’s 2016 revenue report, released yesterday.
On a percentage basis, desktop paid search declined by 10 points and was down by a little under $3 billion in real dollars. However, overall paid search revenues were up vs. a year ago by almost $6 billion.
Mobile ad spending surpassed spending on the desktop for the first time, and represented 51 percent of digital ad spending in the US; in Q4 2016 it was 53 percent.
Total digital ad spending was $72.5 billion in 2016, up 22 percent from 2015. Mobile was responsible for growth across all digital formats: search, display, video, social and so on. Overall, mobile spending (across formats) came in just under $37 billion in 2016.
Growth of mobile ad spending in the US
Read a more complete breakdown of the IAB report on Marketing Land.
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