After coming second to Facebook in 2011, Google outsold the social network in terms of US digital display ad revenue last year, earning $2.26 billion, according to new data.
The study, from Emarketer, goes on to predict that Google will continue to lead Facebook and Yahoo, earning an estimated $3.11 billion in digital display ad revenue by year’s end.
The data indicates that US marketers spent $14.98 billion on Internet display ads last year, a 21.5% jump from $12.33 billion in 2011.
The research firm expects marketers this year to spend $17.70 billion on display ads, an 18.2% increase year over year.
Google lead the way, accounting for 15.1% of the market, taking in approximately $2.26 billion in display ad revenue last year, the report found.
Facebook was close behind with a 14.6% share of the market, or about $2.18 billion in display ad revenue.
Rounding out the top five were Yahoo ($1.35 billion), Microsoft.($680 million) and AOL ($530 million).
Twitter holds the top spot for expected growth in digital display ads among the major ad-selling companies, but is not anticipated to outperform Google, Facebook or Yahoo in the next three years.
According to eMarketer, Twitter is positioned to own 4.2 percent of the market share in the next two years, surpassing AOL and Microsoft by 2015.
Google to extend lead with YouTube?
The research firm predicts that Google’s display ad lead will grow thanks largely to YouTube.
Google’s video property is the dominant U.S. video platform on the web, which enables it to serve loads of ads to consumers, eMarketer says.
YouTube had 163.2 million unique visitors in February, making it the fourth most-popular site on the web, according to Kantar Media Co.-owned web measurement firm Compete.com. Its closest video platform competitor is Hulu, which had 12.4 million unique visitors in February.
“Even though [YouTube] needs more professional, brand-friendly content to realize its full advertising potential, its size and scope are already so massive as to bring in significant dollars,” the eMarketer report says. “And potential improvements in advertiser-friendliness leave room for Google to grow to become an even more important player in the display ad market.”
The research firm predicts Google will generate $3.11 billion in online display ads this year, which would be 17.6% of the U.S. display ad market.
It predicts Google will earn $4.29 billion in display ad revenue in 2014, or 20.7% of the $20.73 billion U.S. market; and $5.87 billion in 2015, 24.6% of the $23.87 billion U.S. market.
Facebook, eMarketer predicts, will generate $2.75 billion in display ads this year, which would be 15.5% of the U.S. display ad market; $3.35 billion in 2014, for a 16.2% market share; and $3.87 billion in 2015, which would be a 16.2% market share.
Source: Emarketer
