Google dominating digital ad market: Report

Google will maintain its dominance and account for 40.7 per cent of US digital ad revenues in 2017 -- more than double Facebooks share, market research company eMarketer said.

According to eMarketer's forecast, the US digital ad spending will reach $83 billion in 2017, representing an increase of 15.9 per cent.

eMarketer expects Google's share of the search market to grow 16.1 per cent to $28.55 billion in 2017 and the search giant will claim roughly 78 per cent of total US search ad revenues this year.

"Google's dominance in search, especially mobile search, is largely coming from the growing tendency of consumers to turn to their smartphones to look up everything from the details of a product to directions," Monica Peart, Forecasting Analyst, eMarketer, said in a statement.

As Google dominates search, Facebook rules display. The social network's US display business will jump 32.1 per cent to $16.33 billion, capturing 39.1 per cent of the US display market, taking share away from Google, Yahoo, and Twitter, the findings showed.

Facebook's revenue growth can be attributed to growth in both usage and time spent, which continues to draw advertisers in greater numbers.

Instagram is also helping to drive Facebook's revenue growth. In fact, Instagram will make up 20 per cent of Facebook's US mobile revenue this year, up from 15 per cent last year.

"Facebook users are increasingly captivated by videos on the platform -- not just on Facebook, but on Instagram as well. Video, both live and recorded, is a key driver of growing user engagement and advertiser enthusiasm," added Peart.

Meanwhile, Google's display business will rise to $5.24 billion, but its share of the display market will drop to 12.5 per cent, the report noted.

In 2017, Snapchat's ad revenue will grow 157.8 per cent to $770 million in the US. That's slightly lower than the $800 million previously projected, due to higher-than-estimated revenue sharing with partners.

Snapchat's ad business, which is made up entirely of mobile display, is still small. Snapchat will account for 1.3 per cent of the mobile ad market this year. By 2019, that will grow to 2.7 per cent, the report added.

--IANS

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