2017 Q2 Review of the Digital Marketing Industry

© 2017 March Oyinki

The digital marketing industry has continued to show great improvements in revenue earnings, market segment dominance as well as introduction of new technology and applications. The year 2017 rolled in with great momentum and it has continued to experience increased growth in several key areas of the industry, such as social media, mobile social, Internet penetration, online advertising, affiliate marketing; and email marketing, video ads and animated GIF, increased revenue earnings as well as in several other areas of the digital marketing sector.

Social Media

In the last quarter of 2016, the social media giant, Facebook had 1.8 billion users, but by the end of the first half of 2017, the company had hit the 2 billion users mark, with a penetration rate of 63 percent; again, demonstrating its clear predominance of the social media space. In the first half of the year, Facebook went full blast into live video streaming, highlighted by its sports contract with Major League Baseball (MLB) to stream live, 20 or more of its games this season.

Mobile Social

Global mobile social media users in the first half of 2017 reached 2.56 billion, and in the area of penetration in the same period, the global average rate was 34%, with a growth rate of 5%, which is an increase of 222 million in the same period in 2016.

Affiliate Marketing

A study by Forrester Consulting, showed that about 90 percent of advertisers see affiliate programs as an integral part of their marketing strategy. With a projection of 10.1 percent annual growth rate, the affiliate marketing spend in the US alone, will increase by an estimated $6.8 billion by the end of 2020. Global revenue earnings in the affiliate marketing industry has increased to $76.52 billion in 2017 already.

Email Marketing

Email marketing has continued to show strong presence among the digital marketing channels in the industry. Study has shown that 55% of emails sent through mobile devices in the first half of this year, were opened, which is an increase of 29%, nearly two times what was obtained in the same period in 2012, and in addition, 64% of emails on mobile were fully read, compared to 45% on desktops and 61% on webmail (Marketing Charts.com).

Video Advertising

Video ads and animated GIF takes front stage in the digital marketing industry, with social media messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which are both pushing into the animated GIF and video advertising market. The penetration rate of digital video in 2017 is 81%, which makes up 222 million Internet users globally. Video ads attract 80% more conversion than illustration and photographs, becoming the favourite among digital marketers.

Digital Marketing

The digital marketing industry expenditure globally recorded a growth rate of 13%, which will amount to US$205 billion at the end of 2017, making up about 37% of all advertising expenditure, compared to 34% in 2016, and out of that spend, 51% was from Social media advertising that is currently the fastest growing channel in the digital marketing industry. Traditional TV advertising spend in the same period, totaled US$192 billion (Bandt.com).

Conclusion

An overview of the digital marketing industry in its entirety, is showing promising growth both in the penetration rate and revenue earning, a trend that seemingly, will continue until year 2020. This positive outlook of the industry has led to an increase in investment in the sector by advertisers and publishers, coupled with the heightened awareness digital marketers are creating on the Internet.

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Aug. 18 2017, Google search for "digital marketing" produced about 155,000,000 results and this article is fourth on the generic listing. #DigitalMerchant