The ongoing digital transformation in business is driving more spend on digital content and advertising, according to a new report released by Zenith.
Advertisers are expected to allocate more than 40% of their budgets to online ads this year, which is an increase on the 37.6% figure for 2017. While there has been speculation in the industry that brand safety concerns and scandals could take its toll on the industry, Zenith said there was “no evidence” that this was the case.
On the contrary, the continued digital push as enterprises around the world attempt to leverage the full capabilities of new tech to drive competitiveness and productivity is actually making it easier and offering a better business case for increasing investment on different forms of content and ads.
“We are observing sustained ROI from digital transformation,” Global Brand President for Zenith Vittorio Bonori said. “And we are now at the forefront of a transformation as brands shift budgets along the consumer journey, benefit from powerful algorithms and advanced machine learning techniques, and invest in new e-commerce solutions. This transformation is at the heart of driving brand growth.”
This suggests that there will be even greater benefits for brands in the future as their digital ad strategies mature and they are able to call upon new cutting-edge tech to improve content campaigns. Overall, global ad spend has been revised upwards in recent months and is now expected to increase by 4.6% in 2018, the biggest upgrade in investment since 2011.