(Newswire.net — January 18, 2017) — Advertising in the newspaper sector has always been huge. Right now, newspapers form $50.7 billion worth of ad spend every year, and they’ve always been one of the most impactful mediums for advertising. However, social media is about to change all of that with its rapidly growing platform. In fact, social media is poised to take over as the leader by 2020.
Social Media is the New Newspaper
According to a recent study from Zenith Group, we’ve seen social media advertising double over the past two years with more than $16 billion in ad revenue in 2016. It’s growing at a rate of 20 percent, and experts are certain that this form of media will be the top grossing advertising field by 2020.
It’s surprising that social media ad spending is overtaking newspaper ad spending because under five years ago, ad spending in the newspaper sector was the second highest grossing advertising medium in the nation, just behind direct mail.
Advertising on major platforms like Facebook and Twitter will lead this surge in advertising, according to the report. It will account for about 20 percent of all advertising run on the internet by 2020.
Mobile Could Be to Blame
Those behind the report believe that the prolific use of mobile technology is a primary factor in the high interest in social media advertisements. As more people adopt the use of their mobile phones for shopping and information, advertising takes a more social targeting stance.
“Social media platforms have benefited from the rapid adoption of mobile technology, using it to embed themselves into their users’ daily lives,” said the report. “For many users, social media is the focal point of their social lives as well as their main source of news. Social media ads blend seamlessly into the news feed, and are much more effective than interruptive banner formats, especially on mobile devices.”
As new mobile devices, apps, and tech upgrades are developed to carry forth the adoption of social media, advertisers will continue to capitalize on the attention. Social networking on mobile devices has become a way of life for many people, and mobile use has secured advertising revenue.
Social Media Offers Multimedia Ad Spots
Advertising has taken many different forms in multimedia, and social media is an excellent catalyst for that. Rather than running traditional advertisements, organizations have begun transferring those videos to the social sector.
Even advertisements that are originally run on television or in online newspapers can gain a lot of steam by being shared across social media. Many companies are creating video advertisements, like in this example, and using the social networks to catapult them to the top of search rankings.
Facebook is particularly focused on optimizing advertising content through multimedia channels. They have geo-targeted advertisements, videos that instantly play without being clicked, memes, infographics, and other useful advertising methods that make it easy for companies to promote their businesses.
Facebook has recognized the incredible monetary potential that comes from ad revenue, and they’ve optimized their platform to handle an influx of ads in all forms. Other social platforms have naturally followed.
Online Advertising Is Growing in Trust
At one point in time, advertisements displayed online were considered untrustworthy. Though it’s still not considered as powerful as television, social media is becoming a highly respected form of advertising. As customers make connections with brands on the networking platform, it creates a sense of loyalty between the customer and company.
Companies now recognize the impact of connecting where customers spend their time. Social media is the number one online activity and targeted advertisements clearly explain the projected jump in ad revenue.