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Is The Drunken Orgy Over For Digital?


Is it possible that after 15 years of pissing away billions of dollars on idiotic fantasies, advertisers and agencies are finally waking up to the horseshit they've been sold by the online advertising industry?

Let's have a look at some charts.

This first chart shows us that according to Standard Media Index, growth in online advertising spending in 2016 was about half what it was in 2015.

This second chart shows us that while over the past 4 years, year-over-year growth in online spending has averaged about 19%, in 2016 these numbers dropped a whole lot. Year-to-year growth averaged only 6.8%, quarter-to-quarter in the 4th quarter it average 4.3%, and month-to-month in December it was just .7%. As time goes on spending growth seems to be dropping dramatically.

The third chart may be the most revealing. What it shows is that all the growth in online spending went to Google and Facebook. The rest of the online industry actually lost ad revenue. The amount of the loss depends on whose numbers you choose to believe. The source I used had the drop at 2%. Others had it at 3% and 5%.


The big question is, are advertisers coming to their senses? According to the CEO of the Standard Media Index, the "...trajectory of digital spend has recently hit a major speed bump as brands question the efficacy of the medium."

All I can say is, fucking duh!


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