The 45 Most Important Advertising Statistics of 2023

By Goran Dautovic

June 17, 2023

Advertising has evolved over hundreds of years to become a key driving force behind the modern economy, and the third decade of the 21st century will see the industry enter a new age of technological possibilities. Virtual and augmented reality will bloom as advertising gets a face-lift, with outdated approaches destined for the scrap heap. 

To paint a better picture of the current landscape and identify growing trends within the industry, we pored through an array of reputable advertising studies. We then used that information to compile this authoritative list of advertising facts and statistics.  

Interesting Advertising Statistics – Editor’s Choice

• Social media advertising budgets are expected to grow 11.76% annually by 2026.
• Acknowledgment is key: 77% of Twitter users appreciate a brand more when their tweet is responded to. It takes about 10 hours on average for businesses to respond to a tweet, even though customers want a response within four hours.
• Average advertising costs for small business operations that use Google Ads as part of their online advertising strategy are between $9,000 and $10,000 per month.
• Three-quarters of marketers fail to use behavioral data for online ad targeting.
•  70%-80% of users ignore sponsored search results.
• 84% of people expect brands to create content.

Amazing Advertising Facts

Did you know that the first-ever TV advertisement was for watchmaker Bulova, broadcast in July 1941? Or that the first radio commercial lasted for 15 minutes? Here are some more interesting advertising facts you can wow your friends with at your next cocktail party!

• The most expensive advertising campaign of all time was created by Chanel. It cost $33 million, of which $3 million was paid to Nicole Kidman, who starred in the video.
• As soon as chewing gum ads started showing people chewing two pieces of gum at once, sales doubled. 
• In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type printing. This led to the birth of a new era of advertising in the form of the handbill. The lithographic process was perfected in 1796, giving rise to the illustrated poster.
• One of the more mind-blowing facts about advertising is that most watches displayed in advertisements are set to 10:10. Why? Because the watch’s hands frame the brand name and create a smiley face.
• Advertisers often use a technique called “affective conditioning” where they take a product and place it next to other things consumers feel positive about. For example, detergent brands often associate themselves with babies, sunshine, and flowers, even though detergent doesn’t inherently have anything to do with them. Repeatedly displaying the brand alongside feel-good images makes people think more positively about the product.

Online Advertising Statistics

Online advertising is a booming industry with plenty of opportunities for businesses to grow and thrive. It has significantly grown over the past several decades and taken over the good old television. Here are some statistics that show how advertising has changed with time.

Google and Facebook hold the largest share of total US digital ad revenue, with 28.6% and 23.8% respectively.

(Statista)

Even though both companies’ market share is declining thanks to competition from companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook remain the two most dominant forces on the market. In 2021, the two companies boasted 28.6% (Google) and 23.8% (Facebook, including Instagram) digital ad revenue, accounting for more than 50% of all ad money in the US.

70%-80% of users ignore sponsored search results.

(Search Engine Land)

This shows the advantages of ranking organically instead of paying Google to pin your page to the top of search results. Not only do most users ignore sponsored search results but they’re also more likely to distrust the brand that’s advertising itself in that way.

Videos are shared 1,200% more than text and links combined.

(Forbes)

Trends over recent years have shown that well-crafted, compelling video content is among the most powerful online advertising tools. People remember videos for longer and share them more frequently than they do other media. That’s why creating unique video ads should be a key part of your marketing strategy.

About 81% of all online shopping carts are abandoned.

(SaleCycle)

Advertising fast facts indicate that customers are indeed hasty to abandon their online shopping carts. This is a big issue for online businesses since a total of 81% of users never return to finish shopping after they initially abandon their cart. To tackle this problem and reduce the number of abandoned baskets, you might want to look into some tried-and-true cart abandonment solutions.

90% of searchers haven’t made up their mind about a brand before starting their search.

(Status Labs)

While some people are loyal to certain brands, most potential customers prioritize the best products and the lowest prices over brands they know. This is one reason the market is more competitive than ever before and explains why quality internet advertising is vital to any business’s success.

The total number of users with ad blockers worldwide rose to 763.51 million in 2019.

(Statista)

Consumers don’t necessarily hate all advertisements: Most wish that they could just filter those they don’t want to see instead of blocking them all. The problem lies in intrusive, bad ads that ruin the user experience, which is why a smart approach to designing and implementing ads is becoming increasingly important.

There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds.

(Small Business Trends)

One of advertising’s least fun facts is that almost 50% of all small businesses have suffered a cyber breach in 2018. These companies usually have minimal security infrastructure and are easy prey for data sharks. Cyber attacks can be extremely destructive, which is why both large and small companies should do everything they can to protect themselves.

Small businesses earn an average of $3 in revenue for every $1.60 they spend on Google Ads.

(PowerTraffick)

When it comes to pay-per-click investment on internet ads, businesses usually make double what they spend on Google Ads. If your company’s return is significantly lower than this, maybe it’s time to make some tweaks. The average click-through rate on paid search ads using Google Ads is about 2%.

90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.

(Bright Local)

Customer reviews also influence 67.3% of purchasing decisions. Interestingly, people trust them as much as personal recommendations, which makes them extremely important for all businesses, especially those oriented toward local customers.

Global digital ad spending is predicted to exceed $645 billion by 2024.

(Statista)

The total amount of money spent on digital ads has been rising over the years, even though the rate of increase has fallen slightly. Experts predict that over the next two years, this spending will increase by $121 billion. 

Three-quarters of marketers fail to use behavioral data for online ad targeting.

(Adweek)

Advertising facts suggest that marketers are slow to act on behavioral user data. This is because they mostly use older technologies to drive consumer segmentation. Marketers also believe that companies are still struggling to translate the collected behavioral data into better, more customized user experiences.

Small businesses that use Google Ads spend between $9,000 and $10,000 per month on PPC.

(WebFx)

Statistics about small and medium businesses show that the most competitive PPC keywords relate to the financial and legal industries, as well as insurance services. These types of businesses spend more than $1.2 billion per year on PPC advertising on Google.

84% of consumers expect brands to create content.

(Havas)

Research by Havas shows brand engagement is extremely important for consumers. People want content that engages them through storytelling, provides useful solutions, and creates entertaining experiences. Since a single moment of brand disappointment was shown to result in 47% of consumers giving up on a brand altogether, it’s critical that marketers create content that’ll resonate with their target audience.

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YouTube Advertising Statistics

Did you know that YouTube has over 2 billion monthly users? That’s more than a quarter of the world’s population! Every day, those users watch over 500 million hours of video content. Clearly, YouTube is an expanding platform with a lot of potential for businesses and advertisers. Below are some telling YouTube stats that show just how effective video advertising can be.

While people are spending less and less time in front of a TV, they’re watching more YouTube than ever before.

(Think With Google)

As the second-most-visited site on the internet and the main platform for Google video ads, YouTube has experienced spectacular growth. In 2015 alone, 18-to49-year-olds spent 4% less time watching TV and 74% more time watching content on YouTube.

80% of shoppers who watch a YouTube video related to a purchase they’re planning to make do so at the start of the process. 

(Think With Google)

YouTube has proved to be a remarkably important web advertising tool for consumers who seek to better inform themselves before choosing a product to spend their money on. With more than 2 billion monthly users and a huge number of content creators, there is always an expert opinion to be found on any product or service worth buying. 

Over 60% of YouTube watch time comes from viewers on mobile devices.

(Statista)

According to 2021 Statista research, smartphones are a major entry point for internet access in many markets across the world and have also become the most popular device for watching video content. Almost a quarter of the world’s population will watch a video on a phone this year.

Paid YouTube mobile ads receive viewer attention 83% of the time.

(Ipsos)

This is one of the most startling online advertisements vs. traditional advertising statistics, seeing that TV ads only get attention 45% of the time. Television ads simply last too long, and TV watchers regularly check their phones during breaks in sports games and other televised events.

Since 2016, twice as many small and medium-sized businesses have started advertising on YouTube.

(YouTube)

Given that YouTube’s sophisticated advertising tools can successfully analyze your target audience and reach the most valuable potential customers, it’s no surprise that the number of small and medium-sized businesses creating online ads for YouTube is rising steadily.

89% of shoppers trust YouTube creators’ product recommendations.

(Think With Google)

In the digital age, customers are increasingly using video content to inform themselves before making purchases. This trend of researching other people’s opinions and experiences gives good products exposure and helps increase revenues.

Social Media Advertising Statistics

The social media ecosystem is becoming increasingly complex, offering much more than a convenient way to connect with friends and family. Using social media platforms for marketing purposes can be extremely effective, but only if you employ the right strategy. That’s why in this section, we’re bringing you the latest social media advertising stats that’ll assist you in making better-informed advertising moves. 

4.62 billion people used social media in 2021, up 4.8% from the year before. That means 62% of all people on the planet now use social networks.

(DataReportal)

Social media platforms have proved to be a potent market for advertisers. The steady increase in the number of users in 2021 indicates that the peak of investment in social media is still to come.

In 2020, 34% of digital consumers used social networks to research new brands or products.

(Business 2 Community)

With the astronomical rise of the “Stories” feature on Instagram and similar social media networks, advertising online has never had a bigger reach than it does today. 

The average engagement rate of Instagram business account posts in 2021 was 0.83%.

(HootSuite)

Engagement rates are a key metric for any social media platform. They show how popular a post is and can help you get more followers, boost your reach, and grow your business.

90% of users follow at least one business on Instagram, while more than 200 million people visit at least one business profile every day.

(Hootsuite)

Interestingly, about two-thirds of these visits come from people who don’t already follow the profile. This shows that investing in Instagram advertising has huge potential for attracting new customers.

71% of consumers who reach out to customer service via social media expect a reply within five minutes.

(Ambassador)

Social media can be a great tool for increasing brand engagement and attracting new customers. One of the best ways to achieve this is to offer outstanding customer service via your social platforms. A good reputation among users and their word-of-mouth recommendations will help you lower your internet advertising costs, allowing you to invest the money you save into other things.

While 80% of businesses that have an online presence believe they deliver great customer service via their social media channels, only 8% of their customers agree.

(Smart Insights)

As far as advertising stats go, this is a real punch in the guts. It can be easy to think you’re doing a good job from inside your office, but it’s your customers’ opinions that really matter. Don’t overestimate the quality of your customer service, and most importantly, don’t ignore what your customers are telling you.

In 2019, Facebook had over 90 million pages for small and medium-sized businesses.

(Meta)

This is one of the more impressive Facebook advertising facts. The number of businesses that advertise on the platform reached 10 million in the third quarter of 2020.

Facebook owned 24.5% of all digital video ad spending in 2018.

(eMarketer)

Facebook (including Instagram) received nearly 87% of US social media video ad spending in 2018. That same amount translates to one-quarter of all US video ad spending. It’s a crowded market, but as video ads grow, Facebook continues to be a popular channel.

The average engagement rate for Facebook video posts in 2020 was 6.09%.

(Hootsuite)

This shows that videos are by far the most engaging posts on Facebook. Video content engagement has been rising, while engagement with original and stock photo content, link posts, and status posts are on the decline.

Global social media advertising spending will account for 33% of all digital ad spending in 2022.

(Hootsuite)

This spending is predicted to grow 17% in 2022, reaching $134 billion, making social media platforms even more powerful when it comes to reaching new customers across the world.

Social media marketing budgets are expected to grow 11.76% annually by 2026, reaching $358 billion in 2026.

(Statista)

Social media has taken over the world, and marketing investment in these platforms has increased rapidly. In 2022, social media advertising spending will grow 27.9% on mobile and 21.7% on desktop compared to 2021.

77% of Twitter users appreciate a brand more when it responds to their tweets.

(Twitter)

It’s also worth noting that customers on Twitter want brands to respond to their tweets sooner. At present, it takes about 10 hours on average for businesses to respond to tweets. Customers, however, expect a response within four hours.

TV Advertising Statistics

Although social media marketing is on the rise, that doesn’t mean TV advertising is dying out. On the contrary, it’s still very much alive and kicking. The reason behind its continuing popularity is simple – it works.

Investing in TV can increase advertising effectiveness by 40%.

(Thinkbox)

Whether in the short or long term, television still delivers a great bang for your advertising buck. It’s one of the lowest-risk methods of investing in advertisement, with a high likelihood of profit return: 70% between three and six months, and 86% over three years.

TV advertising spending in the US is predicted to reach $68.35 billion in 2022.

(Statista)

TV remains the best form of advertising for cashed-up marketers willing to spend large amounts on ad campaigns for mass audiences. However, as those audiences shift to digital media and advertisers pursue more multichannel campaigns, it’s getting tougher to make TV work for your business. That’s why it’s unlikely that TV advertising spending in the next five years will exceed prepandemic levels of financing.

In 2020, US teens watched 37% less traditional TV than they did three years ago, while millennials’ share dropped 23.4% in just one year.

(MarketingCharts)

The amount of time 18-to34-year-olds spent watching traditional TV – both live and time-shifted – in Q3 2020 dropped 23.4% from 2019. Younger people are watching less and less television, which is bound to have a negative impact on TV advertising effectiveness.

The average adult in the US spends five hours and 24 minutes per day watching videos.

(MarketingCharts)

Television remains one of the best media for marketers to use product placement and other subtle advertising strategies. When you consider that people watch nearly five and a half hours of video per day, TV’s effectiveness makes sense. 

Mobile Advertising Statistics

Using mobile platforms for SMS marketing has proved to be very efficient. In recent years, marketers have turned to mobile to generate leads, increase sales, and improve customer engagement through banner advertisements on mobile websites and ads in downloaded apps and games. 

Mobile searches for “best” have grown 80% between 2015 and 2017.

(Think With Google)

This is one of those digital advertising trends that shows how much consumers value search engines as a tool for helping them make smart purchases. People are turning to their phones for advice, however large or small their decision may be.

Global mobile ad spending is projected to reach $413 billion by 2024.

(Statista) 

This information reflects the growing dominance of mobile devices compared to desktop computers, with up to 57.4% of total web traffic and over 50% of digital ad spend now taking place on mobile. The most attractive spaces for advertisers to place their ads were search results and social media platforms, as well as mobile games.

68% of companies have integrated mobile marketing into their overall marketing strategy.

(MakeaWebsiteHub)

Targeted advertising facts show just how profitable mobile marketing can be as part of a cohesive brand strategy. Now, 71% of marketers believe mobile marketing must be at the core of their business-development plans.

88% of consumers who search for a local business on their mobile call or visit that business within a day.

(Social Media Today)

This statistic shows the importance of making a good first impression on customers. What’s more, 18% of all local searches lead to a sale within 24 hours. It’s important to cater to your local clientele, as 72% of people who visit a physical shop choose one within five miles of their location.

In 2019, more than two-thirds of the total US digital advertising budget was dedicated to mobile devices.

(Hollywood Reporter, Statista)

With $120 billion spent on mobile marketing in 2020, the US is the leading mobile advertising market in the world. China comes in second, while the UK holds the third spot. 

Email Marketing Statistics

Taking advantage of email marketing services has helped many small businesses reach their customers. According to the latest targeted advertising statistics, email is still one of the most effective channels for customer acquisition and retention.

UK email marketers reported an average return on investment of 4,200% in 2020: For every dollar invested, the average return was $42.

(Hubspot)

This astoundingly high return rate has to do with the low cost of implementing email campaigns, which is what makes this one of the most effective advertising solutions out there. It’s worth noting that since the arrival of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, this figure has likely declined for businesses that serve customers in the EU.

Adding videos to your email can increase click rates by 300%, while interactive email content increases the rate of click-to-open by 73%.

(MTA)

This is one of those facts about advertising that you absolutely shouldn’t ignore. Spicing up your emails with animations, videos, and interactive content is becoming increasingly important in boosting customer engagement.

49% of consumers say they would like to receive promotional emails from their favorite brands on a weekly basis.

(Statista)

It turns out your loyal customers do like to hear from you, and their preferred method of receiving business news is via email. If you take advantage of this, you can build brand loyalty through quality weekly content.

Around 33% of email marketers send emails on a weekly basis.

(DataBox)

Depending on your industry, sending out daily email marketing campaigns may not always be a bad thing. Research shows that 13% of businesses send emails every day, while 26% send them several times per month.

99% of consumers check their email daily.

(Optinmonster)

People are much more likely to see an email from a business than they are to see a social media post. This is especially true when it comes to mobile devices, where a larger percentage of users still keep their email notifications turned on.

Final Words

TV and digital advertising statistics above show beyond doubt that this industry is in a state of rapid flux. As marketers adapt to technological advancements, a whole new world of possibilities has opened up. Advertising is more competitive than ever before, and you need to be on top of your game if you want your business to stand out from the crowd.