Direct marketing spending to hit $163 billion in 2011: DMA 2011

Marketers will spend $163 billion on direct marketing in 2011, a 5.6% increase compared with last year, according to a report released by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) on Oct. 2. The report also found that direct marketing accounts for 52.1% of total U.S. ad spending.

The DMA projected that direct marketing ROI will reach $12.03 of sales per dollar of expenditures in 2011.

Next year, digital marketing’s share of marketing budgets will increase by two percentage points to 21%, according to the DMA. Of the various direct marketing channels, mobile is forecast to experience the most growth over the next year, rising by 38.7% to $1.2 billion. By contrast, direct-response magazine, radio and newspaper spending are all expected to decrease over the next year, with direct-response newspaper advertising predicted to decline by 9.9% to $7.0 billion.

Telemarketing is expected to remain the top spending channel, growing by 0.8% next year to $36.9 billion. Direct-response TV is expected to follow at $22.9 billion, a 3.8% bump from 2011.

The DMA also said that Matt Blumberg, CEO and chairman of Return Path, has been elected chairman of the DMA board for 2012, succeeding Hawkeye chairman and founder Steven Dapper, who was named to the post in May 2010.