2021 is looking like a digital dynamo

2020 is truly the year that forever cemented digital into the advertising media mix lineup. With significant drops and decreases occurring across the board during the first half of the year, the focus on digital connections with consumers has been the core of spend to get advertisers through these tough and trying times.

Taking a peek at the first half of 2020, we saw a significant drop in overall ad spend, with total US media buying down 19.1% over the same window of time in 2019. Digital spend, on the other hand, bucked the trend and was only down 2% through the first half of the year. Such numbers are proof in the pudding of the merits and power of adapting quickly to the changing events and world around us. Looking down the line, spend projections for the full year point to a 6% overall increase for digital, but an 8% decline in total media spend.

Driven primarily by ferocious consumer drive, demand and consumption for eCommerce sales, digital is in the kingpin seat. As pandemic lockdowns continue, the past 6+ months have certainly emboldened the use of digital – among advertisers both big and small. And as consumers continue to increase the use of digital devices and platforms – including social, connected tv and even podcasting – digital is projected to be the clear front runner as we throttle into 2021.

So, does that mean spend among traditional channels is dead? No, but with a 30% overall decrease in year over year spend, media strategists will need to keenly, carefully and craftily evaluate and identify how and where traditional fits into media mixes moving forward.

The IAB recently released results from a survey reflecting the ad spend outlook for 2021. 70% of media buyers don’t have clear visibility to 2021 budgets yet – and are expecting approximately 5% growth on budgets over 2020 spend levels. With the constantly evolving landscape, it’s critical now to understand how an evolved media mix can drive business results. As advertisers and agencies squint into the horizon of 2021, there’s a lot of unanswered questions and understood anxiety. Success in the new year will require dynamic thinking and the right tools to build a plan that will work.