Social media advertising spending will increase from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion by 2015, according to a report released by research firm BIA/Kelsey on May 2. The “US Local Media Annual Forecast (2010-2015)” also forecast a 1% decline in traditional advertising spending, falling to $115.7 billion in 2015.
Jed Williams, a BIA/Kelsey analyst and program director of the firm’s Social Local Media service, said social media gives advertisers the ability to target consumers and measure performance.
“The bottom line is if you can multitarget 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.
BIA/Kelsey considers only social media display advertising and non-display advertising, such as Twitter’s Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends; it does not account for social commerce, social marketing, social gaming or virtual goods and rewards.
Additionally, the report found that social media’s share of digital advertising budgets will more than double to 21.9% by 2015. Digital advertising’s share of total advertising budgets is also expected to nearly double to 24.7% in the next three to four years.
“We think [Facebook’s percentage of display ad impressions] will reach a majority share by 2014-2015,” he said.
According to comScore, Facebook generated more than 33% of all US online display ad impressions in February 2011.
