90+ Advertising Statistics To Inform Your Ad Strategy in 2023

Print, television, Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, email, video, audio, apps, websites - the list of channels you can advertise in today is long and ever-growing. 

With so many options at your disposal, where will you put your advertising money to reach the right audience? Should you go for the traditional print ad or go for a Facebook ad? Or maybe even try TikTok video? Or maybe you could use cross-channel advertising platforms to run ads on most of the digital media. 

Add to this challenges of the limited budget, time, competition, and, most importantly, the difficulty to capture and hold people’s attention. How would you run a profitable ad campaign? Luckily, we’ve outlined current advertising trends backed by data to help you build a winning advertising strategy for your business.

Global ad spend statistics

The advertising industry is growing despite the economic uncertainty, and the momentum is set to continue next year with a number of big events lined up, like the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, UEFA Euro, and the US presidential election. 

• Global ad spend will grow $23 billion to $727.9 billion in 2023
• Growth will accelerate by about 5% to hit $762.5 billion in 2024. 

Now, understanding in which channels advertisers allocate their budgets is essential for both industry professionals and businesses aiming to make informed advertising decisions for the year. From traditional platforms like TV and display ads to digital frontiers, these numbers shed light on the strategies and preferences that are shaping the advertising ecosystem.

• Digital ad spending is forecast to grow by 7.8%- more than double the rate of the total market – to reach $424.3 billion in 2023. 
• Emerging digital categories like retail media and connected TV will show double-digit growth of 18% and 15.2%, respectively, in 2023.
• Search advertising spending will expand 8.9% to $150 billion. 
• Unlike digital media, TV ad spending will decline by 3.1% to reach $170.2 billion this year. 
• Similarly, spending on print advertising will also go down by 5% to $48.4 billion in 2023. 
• Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, which includes ad placements such as billboards, is expected to grow 13.4% to $35.6 billion in 2023. 
• Digital out-of-home ad spending is forecast to rise 26.1% to $13.3 billion. 

Digital advertising statistics

Digital advertising, also known as online advertising, is primarily advertising using internet channels like web browsers, social media pages, search engines, blogs, and apps to promote products or services to the audience.

“For years now, we’ve seen the industry pivot towards digital, more than doubling investment in the last five years, thanks in part to the almost unlimited potential to reach, engage, and sell to individual consumers. ”

Peter Huijboom
Global CEO, Media - International Markets, Dentsu

Given there are more than 5 billion internet users today, digital channels have become paramount for businesses, be it B2B or B2C, to connect with their target audiences globally. Take a look at the numbers that show the diverse aspects and evolving trends of digital advertising. 

• Digital advertising has the potential to boost a brand's awareness by a substantial 80%.
• 70.5% of advertisers got more digital ad budgets in 2023 compared to 2022. 
• A quarter of advertisers note their digital ad budget will increase between 10-40% in 2023. 
• Display, social media, video, and search are the top four digital channels advertisers will invest in this year. 
• Google, Spotify, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and Pinterest are the leading digital platforms advertisers use.

Top digital ad sellers

A handful of tech companies that have built massive platforms reaching billions of people around the world dominate the digital ad market. From search engine behemoths like Google and social media titans like Meta and TikTok to e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, these household names hold a massive share of the digital ad market.

• Google holds the top spot in the digital ad market, with its 2023 global digital ad revenue expected to account for 39% of total digital advertising revenue globally.
• Alphabet, Google’s parent company, earned $112.7 billion in revenue from Google advertising channels in just the first half of 2023.
• Facebook follows Google with a projected digital ad revenue share of 18% in 2023.
• Amazon comes in third with an expected 7% share.
• Following these companies are players from Asia - TikTok (3%), Baidu, JD.com, and Tencent, all three with 2%.

• In comparison, Facebook is expected to reach nearly $203 billion in advertising revenue by the close of 2026.

Search advertising statistics

The first thing we do when looking for something, be it the nearest Chinese takeaway or Apple’s latest launch, is to search it online. So, what better place for businesses to reach these people?

Often called paid search advertising or search engine marketing, it involves placing digital ads in search engine results. See the sponsored results in the following search? That’s search advertising. 

• Search advertising is the largest segment in the digital ad market, with a market volume of $202.40 billion.
• 56% of US consumers start their search when online shopping on Amazon. 
• 42% of US consumers start their online shopping search on a search engine. 
• Pay-per-click (PPC), which is the major part of search advertising, generates twice the volume of visitors in comparison to search engine optimization (SEO) for organic search results. 
• Google Ads, the most popular search advertising platform, boasts an average conversion rate of 7.04% and a click-through rate of 6.11% in 2023.

What G2 data on search advertising software shows

• Smaller companies are actively employing search advertising as a crucial component of their digital advertising strategy, as they comprise the majority (63.4%) of users of the search advertising software.
• While mid-market companies (26.8%) are also substantial users, enterprise companies (9.9%) seem to have a relatively smaller presence in this segment.

Mobile advertising statistics

We live on our phones. So, it's no surprise that businesses look to target us with their ads on mobiles via mobile marketing and advertising. The text ads you get via SMS, the banner ads you see on websites on your mobile or the notifications you get on your phone when you are in a particular location,  are forms of mobile advertising. Here are some important stats you need to know about mobile advertising trends. 

• 7+ billion people use mobile phones worldwide.
• People, on average, spend 3.5 hours on mobile devices. 
• Mobile searches make up more than half of searches on Google.com. 
• Mobile ad spending will reach about $194 billion in the US in 2023.

Ads with augmented reality (AR) in mobile are seeing an upswing as advertisers recognize the unique opportunities this technology offers to engage audiences in immersive and interactive experiences.

• AR mobile ad market is estimated to reach nearly $10 billion by 2026.

What G2 data on mobile advertising software shows

• Similar to search advertising, mobile advertising is popular among small businesses, with 52.7% of mobile advertising tools users coming from the segment. 
• Following them are mid-market companies, with more than a third using mobile advertising software. 
• Only 14.4% of mobile advertising software users come from enterprise companies.

Video advertising statistics

Using videos to sell products and services has been popular since the time of television sets in the 1940s. They tell a story and grab viewers’ attention without being a hard sell. With the advent of streaming platforms and social media, video advertising has transcended the limitations of traditional TV and is now a staple in the digital marketing strategies of both B2B and B2C companies. Take a look at some numbers that substantiate this. 

• People watch 17 hours of online videos on average every week.
• 87% of US households have a connected TV, or television that's connected to the internet to stream online content.  
• 90% of consumers watch videos on YouTube.
• Watching a video has convinced 89% of people to buy a product or service.
• Video ad strategy is useful to sell software, too, as 79% of people say watching a video convinced them to buy software or an app.
• 46% of marketers created video ads in 2022. 
• 89% of marketers say they get a good return on investment (ROI) from their video ads.
• 91% of businesses employ video as a marketing tool in 2023.
• With 90% of video marketers trusting YouTube, it is the most used video marketing platform. It’s also considered the most effective video marketing platform by 78% of marketers. 
• Facebook sits in the second place at 86%, followed by Instagram and LinkedIn, both at 79%.
• Short-form video ads are growing in popularity as 66% of consumers pay 2.5 times more attention to short-form videos than long-form videos.
• Reels, short video formats on Instagram and Facebook, exceed 200 billion plays per day across both platforms. 

What G2 data on video advertising tools shows

• An analysis of G2 review data of video advertising tools shows that marketing and advertising, retail, information technology and services, computer software, and financial services are the most common industries using the software.
• A significant majority of video advertising tool users, comprising 50.2%, are from small businesses. 
• Mid-market companies represent 33.6% of these users, and enterprise companies make up the remaining 16.2%. 

This data again highlights a substantial interest in video advertising across business sizes, with smaller businesses taking a prominent share.

Social media advertising statistics

Consumers are increasingly spending more time on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, making it inevitable for businesses to connect with them there. To this end, brands spend considerable money on paid social media promotion campaigns to harness the platform's incredible reach, engagement, and targeting capabilities. 

• On average, individuals engage with seven distinct social networks every month.
• 94% of consumers engage with social platforms at least monthly, indicating the significant opportunities available for brands in this space.
• Almost 50% of Gen Z adults discovered new products or brands through influencer endorsements, and nearly a third of them bought the product. 
• Six out of 10 customers expect businesses to offer customer service through social media.
• Nearly 70% of marketers utilize social media to build brand awareness.

• Facebook is the most-used platform by marketers worldwide at 93%, followed by Instagram at 78%.
• 52% of marketers cross-post content to multiple social platforms with as few changes as possible. 

What G2 data on social media advertising software shows

• The most common industries using social media advertising software are marketing and advertising, computer software, IT, health, wellness and fitness, and professional training & coaching.
• Small businesses, once again, have widely adopted social media advertising, with 71.1% of social media advertising tool users coming from this market segment.
• Mid-market companies represent 22.4% of users, while enterprise-level companies constitute 6.5% of the user base.

Let’s break down some interesting statistics about advertising on some of the major social media websites.

Facebook advertising statistics

Below are the statistics that everybody looking to advertise on Facebook should know. 

• Facebook is the third-most visited website on the internet, just behind Google and YouTube. 

•  A Facebook user clicks on 12 ads every month on average.
• The average cost-per-click (CPC) of Facebook ads is $0.44 across industries. 
• The social media giant has over 10 million active advertisers.
• The median CTR for Facebook ads across all industries is 1.54%.

TikTok advertising statistics

Numbers show TikTok is fast rising as the place where people search first when online shopping. Here are some statistics related to advertising on the short-form video app.

• TikTok had 1.7 billion+ MAUs at the end of 2022.
• TikTok accounts for 32% of users’ social media time.
• 19% of US consumers search on TikTok first when shopping online in 2023, a 5% rise from 2022.
• There are an estimated over 100,000 influencers on TikTok.

• TikTok boasts an average engagement rate of 5.96%.
• The average CPC of TikTok ads is $1. 
• TikTok ads start at $10 per 1000 views with a $500 minimum per campaign.
• 90% of branded hashtag challenges on TikTok generate 2.5X ROI on ad spend. 
• Challenges with hashtags cost brands $100,000+ on TikTok.

Instagram advertising statistics

Dive into these statistics, focusing on Instagram advertising.

• Instagram is the fourth-most visited website on the internet.
• Instagram has over 2 billion MAUs as of January 2023.
• 80% of marketing professionals have Instagram in their digital marketing campaigns.
• Business Instagram accounts post an average of 1.71 feed posts on the photo and video app every day.
• The average CPC of Instagram ads ranges from $0.20 to $2. 
• The typical engagement rate on Instagram business account posts stands at 0.54%. 
• 35% of Instagram users will make buy on the platform in 2023.

Traditional advertising statistics

As much as digital media dominate today, traditional advertising, i.e., advertising via offline channels like newspapers, billboards, TV, and radio, is still a mainstay in the advertising world. Check out the statistics that show the relevance of these classic avenues.

• The annual spending on traditional advertising is estimated to be $306.79 billion in 2023.
• The radio advertising market size reached $ 37.2 Billion in 2022.
• OOH ads have a much higher recall for consumers than other ads on live and streaming television, podcasts and radio, and print and online ads.
• Traditional billboards have an average ROI of 40%. 

Television advertising statistics

With plenty of live events like sports, award shows, and political news coverage, people are still shelling out cable subscriptions, making television a go-to-platform among traditional media for ads.

• U.S. adults watch TV for an estimated 2 hours and 33 minutes daily in 2023.
• The global TV advertising market size hit $ 227.0 billion in 2022.
• The US TV ad spending will be $67.17 billion in 2024.
• In 2022, more than 475 direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands spent over $5 billion on TV advertisements.
• In 2023, advertisers paid an average of $7 million to air a 30-second-long commercial during the Super Bowl league broadcast.
• 28% search for an item after seeing it on TV.

Nail your ad game

You’ve got the numbers showing the advertising trends for the coming days. Use this to optimize your advertising strategies, reach your target audience with creative and engaging ad campaigns, and achieve your business goals.

If you don't have the time or resources to manage your own advertising campaigns, you may want to consider working with an experienced advertising agency. They can help you to develop and implement effective campaigns for you.

Find the best advertising agencies for your business.