According to a 2018 forecast conducted by World Advertising Research Center (WARC), digital ad spend is expected to grow 4.7 percent globally in 2018 due to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, the FIFA World Cup in Russia and the US Congressional elections all of which are expected to significantly stimulate online ad growth.
In addition, digital media will beat television for the first time as the owner of the most significant share of the world’s cumulative $572B ad spend. Digital’s portion of total media spend is expected to reach nearly 38%, up from 35% in 2017, whereas, television is predicted to yield a 36% share, a dip from 37% in the previous year.
WARC’s findings from their recently published Global Ad Trends report examine emerging and current trends across 96 key markets in addition to delivering predictions for 2018.
According to WARC’s data editor James McDonald, “2018 should be a stellar year for global advertising, with ad investment set to grow at its strongest rate since the post-recovery years of 2010 and 2011. All global regions…are expected to register growth, supported by key quadrennial events – notably the Winter Olympics in South Korea, the FIFA World Cup in Russia and the US mid-term elections.”
Starting off Q1 2018, the Winter Olympics take place on February 9 – February 25, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In late Q2, the World Cup will kick off on June 14, 2018, in Moscow, Russia followed by the United States Congressional Elections on November 6, 2018.
Brian Blondy is the Marketing Manager at Total Media. You can contact Brian by email at or on LinkedIn