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Google, Facebook Account For 84% Of Digital Investments, Excluding China

Numbers released by GroupM on Monday illustrate the Google-Facebook ad duopoly. The two companies are estimated to account for 84% of all digital investments in 2017, excluding China.

The WPP Group agency factored in Google's reported ad revenue of $24 billion and Facebook's $10 billion for the third quarter in 2017. A variety of media, from search to display, are factored in.

GroupM also estimates that Google and Facebook will account for 186% of digital growth this year. The two companies are not only grabbing new money advertisers spend, but also taking share from competitors.

Amazon might be the exception. The internet giant is quickly moving in to take some of the digital ad investment. The agency believes Amazon’s on-platform search and display advertising, combined with revenue from its off-platform advertising, adds up to be in the low single-digit billions.   

GroupM also expects programmatic media buying to grow along with digital advertising.  The analysis of the U.S. market shows programmatic budgets are estimated at 20% of digital spending, excluding social platforms, which means that media is growing slower than expected.

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GroupM estimates search advertising in the U.S. will hit nearly $35 billion this year in the U.S., rising to $38 billion in 2018. Advertising in North America will reach $193 billion this year and nearly $200 billion next year. Worldwide, those numbers jump to nearly $535 billion and nearly $558 billion, respectively.

Zenith Media also released numbers showing the strength of Google and Facebook, but focused more on the growth of digital advertising.
Zenith predicts that overall advertising among all media worldwide will grow 4.1% in 2018, reaching $578 billion by the end of that year.

The internet's share of global advertising is expected to reach 40% in 2018, rising to 44% and $225 billion in ad spend by 2020, per Zenith Media.

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