Brands and companies worldwide have spent more than $2.66 trillion on digital advertising in the past five years, and 25% of that value, or roughly $670 billion, went on video ads. Although the annual amount spent on video ads has more than doubled in this period, the revenue growth has significantly slowed down. According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, the annual growth rate in the video advertising industry has dropped nearly five times in the past five years to only 8% in 2024.
Mobile Video Ads to See Only One-Quarter of Growth from 2019, Desktop Ads Facing Third Year of Decline
Although companies and brands still spend billions of dollars on video advertising, the market is growing much slower than in previous years. According to a Statista survey, in 2019, global video advertising revenues grew 41% year-over-year, with $76 billion spent on video ads that year alone. The following year saw similar growth, with the total video ad spending jumping to $107.5 billion in 2020. Statistics show that brands and companies spent $148.6 billion on this type of advertising in 2021, showing a smaller but still impressive 38% year-over-year increase. But that changed in 2022, with the annual growth rate falling to less than 8%.
Last year, the total ad spending in the video advertising industry grew by 10% and hit $176.6 billion. Although this figure will jump to over $191 billion in 2024, the annual growth rate will drop to 8%, only one-fifth of the figure reported in 2019.
Analyzed by segments, most of this drop will come from desktop video ads. Desktop advertising has been losing race with mobile ads for a while now, and video ads are no exception. After reaching an all-time high of $55.6 billion in 2021, total ad spending in the desktop video advertising segment started falling and dropped to $54.4 billion last year. The negative trend is expected to continue in 2024, with total spending on desktop video ads falling by another 1.4% to $53.7 billion, marking the third consecutive year of decline.
On the other hand, the mobile video advertising segment will see a 12% year-over-year growth, with total ad spending rising to $137.7 billion. But that is still only one-quarter of growth reported five years ago.
Chinese Market Saw the Biggest Ad Spending Slowdown; Annual Growth Rate Dropped 8x in Five Years
Although all the largest video advertising markets saw a considerable slowdown in total ad spending, China leads with an eightfold drop in five years. In 2019, Chinese brands and companies spent $16.3 billion on video ads, or 66% more than a year before. Since then, the total ad spending has climbed to $53 billion, but the annual growth rate dropped to only 7.5% in 2024.
As the world’s largest video advertising market, the United States has seen a fourfold decrease in this period, with the annual growth rate falling from 40% in 2019 to less than 10% in 2024. But despite that, the US market will make up almost 45% of total video advertising revenue this year.
Statistics show the UK market also witnessed a significant slowdown in the past five years. According to Statista, Britons will spend $9.6 billion on video ads this year, or 5.8% more than in 2023, showing only one-fifth of the growth reported five years ago.
