• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 27, 2015

According to the latest Advertising Forecast from Strategy Analytics, advertising spend in the U.S. is predicted to grow 3.2% in 2015 to $186.6 billion, driven by digital, the fastest growing ad format (up 13.0% year-on-year,) followed by outdoor and cinema advertising. Radio will also grow faster than TV, while print will be the only ad format to see a year-on-year decline in revenue.

Outdoor, cinema and radio are the only formats to grow faster in 2015 than in 2014. Despite this, traditional media revenues, overall, will be 0.2% lower in 2015 than 2014.

Strategy Analytics’ Michael Goodman, co-author of the report, notes that “Digital ad growth will be driven mostly by social media (31% growth, though nearly $30 billion behind TV ad spending,) then video (29%) and mobile (20%), although search will still command nearly 45% of digital ad revenues in 2015.”

 TV will remain the biggest ad format in 2015, accounting for 42.2% ($78.8bn) of U.S. ad revenues, followed by digital, and print. Radio, outdoor and cinema will account for the remaining. Compared to 2014, TV’s share will be down -0.6%, digital up 2.5% while print’s share will decline 1.8%. Share for the other formats will remain relatively unchanged.

Leika Kawasaki, co-author of the report says, “By 2018, TV’s share of ad revenue will fall to 40% while digital’s will have grown to 35%. However, TV’s declining share is less about ad dollars flowing out of TV and more about dollars flowing into digital from print and radio. TV networks such as ABC, NBC, MTV and the like will see little, if any, real decline in revenues, just a shift in the source from linear TV ads to online video. Print will be the major casualty, falling to $20.3bn by the end of 2018 – less than a third of its 2007 level – accounting for just 10% market share (of ad spend).”

For additional information from Strategy Analytics, please visit here.