In the recent “US Local Media Annual Forecast (2010-2015)” report by research firm BIA/Kelsey, social media advertising spending was projected to rise from its total of $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion in 2015. This will coincide with a 1% decline in traditional advertising spending that is projected to fall to $115.7 billion in 2015.
The power of social media lies in advertisers’ ability to target consumers and easily measure performance, according to Jed Williams, BIA/Kelsey’s analyst and Social Local Media service program director.
“The bottom line is if you can multi-target and you can target down at a really granular level, you have a better chance of knowing exactly who your message is reaching and how they’re engaging with it,” said Williams.
The US Local Media Annual Forecast report on social media advertising only considered social media display advertising and non-display advertising. This included such avenues as Twitter’s Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends. It did not include other social media advertising media such as social commerce, social marketing, social gaming or virtual goods and rewards.
The BIA/Kelsey report also projected social media’s share of digital advertising budgets would more than double by 2015 to 21.9%. Over the next three to four years, digital advertising’s share of total advertising budgets is also expected to nearly double to 24.7%.
“We think [Facebook’s percentage of display ad impressions] will reach a majority share by 2014-2015,” Williams said.
Facebook generated more than 33% of all US online display ad impressions in February 2011, according to comScore.
