Digital display advertising is set to overtake search in the US for the first time this year, accounting for 47.9% with a value of $32.17 billion, according to new research.
In a new eMarketer report. “Banners and other,” a category that includes native and social ads, makes up the biggest online investment, followed by video.
The report indicates that banners, videos, sponsored content and in-stream mobile promotions — will outpace search ads in 2016.
The research firm estimates that US.spending on display will hit $32.2 billion this year (a 47 percent annual growth), overtaking spending on search (estimated at $29.2 billion, a 10 percent growth).
That trend is a troubling on for Google, which makes the the large majority of its overall revenue from search ads. Of course, the search giant also gets other ad money from its massive banner business and YouTube, primarily.
But in this category of digital ads, Facebook poses a major threat to Google. Figures from eMarketer suggests that Facebook claimed just under 30% of U.S. display ads in 2015, more than twice Google’s share. Plus, many in the industry see Facebook’s nascent automated ad platforms as a potential threat to Google.