According to WARC, worldwide linear TV advertising is projected to drop by $29.9 billion this year, an equivalent of 16%, to USD 155.6 billion as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The figure serves as the largest decline in history. Worldwide linear TV represents 27.9% of global advertising spend, the largest global share by a media platform.
The advertising and marketing research company's report indicated that the pandemic resulted in a loss of USD 63 billion, £47 billion, in 2020 ad spending. The forecast predicts an improvement of 6.7% in 2021, and an ability to only recuperate 59% of the losses. Linear TV is only set to recover by 1.1% next year. To reach the peak it previously attained of USD 620.6 billion in spending, the industry would be required to work towards a 4.4% growth rate in 2022.
North America's advertising spend will decline by 4.3%, or USD 9.9 billion to USD 221.0 billion in 2021. The demands of the region point to 39.6% of global ad spending. The Asia-Pacific region will drop USD 18.8 billion, 9.7% to USD 174.4 billion. European ad spend will be lower by $21.5 billion, 14.5% to $127 billion in 2020.
The U.S. TV market will sink 0.1% to USD 54.4 billion in linear TV advertising spend. By contrast, digital and online video spending will grow 7.9% to USD 52.7 billion for 2020 and will rise 12.8% next year. Overall global advertising spending is expected to decline 10.2% ($63.4 billion) to USD 557.3 billion. It is projected to rise by 6.7% in 2021.
Social media will be another strong digital category, up 9.3% to USD 98.3 billion, a 12.2% increase to USD 110.3 billion next in 2021. It has an 18.6% worldwide ad spend share. Paid search will decline 1.9% this year, growing 7% next year. In 2021, it is expected to total $130.6 billion. Together with Cinema and out-of-home, they are the fastest-growing formats in 2021, with cinema rising 41.2% and OOH 20.2%.