Digital, TV ad trends in focus at UBS conference

Bloomberg

The growth of digital advertising and how it affects TV ads were key themes on the first day of the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York. “Digital, particularly mobile, continues to take dollars away from print media as consumers use mobile apps and other outlets to consume content digitally,” Zenith said in its year-end forecast presented by global brand president Vittorio Bonori. “Digital consumption has also driven overall video consumption up, even while linear television viewing continues to decline.”
US internet/digital advertising spending will rise 16.9 percent this year
to $60.9 billion and keep growing. In 2017, Zenith expects it to hit $69.2 billion to overtake TV, which will reach $68.6 billion. Magna Global executive vp global market intelligence Vincent Letang said during an advertising panel that digital advertising should grow 17 percent in 2016, with Google and Facebook driving 90 percent of that gain.
“The two global media vendors dominating search and social, Google and Facebook, together control more than half (54 percent) of total digital advertising market,” Magna said. Prognosticators differed on whether the digital giants would continue their dominance or give up some of their lead in the coming years. Bonori said the industry would see concentration go away in the next two to three years, while Letang said: “Actually, I see his concentration increasing in the coming years.”
CBS Corp. chief research officer David Poltrack on Monday criticized Google and Facebook for their “walled garden approach” and lack of transparency. And Google’s YouTube is selling ads “at this extraordinary premium on a [cost-per-thousand ad rate] basis,” while “we see no evidence to justify that,” he said. “[YouTube] doesn’t have much inventory” to sell marketers looking to advertise within premium content.