US Retail, CPG, And Entertainment Industries Drive Nearly 47% of All Digital Ad Spending in 2021

• The entertainment industry will lead the way, bouncing back from a more subdued year in 2020. With the reopening of cinemas and amusement parks and strong advertising from companies promoting mobile video games, new generation consoles, and streaming video-on-demand platforms, we expect a strong year of digital ad spending targeting younger consumers and the reemployed. Digital ad spend in the entertainment industry will grow by 37.2% to reach over $11 billion.
• On the retail front, pure-play ecommerce players, big-box retailers, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands will continue to target consumers as they battle for market share and dollars. We expect retailers to grow their digital ad spending by 34.5% in 2021, reaching nearly $48 billion dollars in ad spending.
• With brand loyalty low following pandemic-driven shortages, CPG companies will look to refocus their efforts on asserting their image, competing with private-label brands and retailers as they look to expand more into D2C sales. CPG digital ad spending will grow by 31.7% in 2021 to reach nearly $31 billion in ad spending.

How does this compare? Although entertainment will see the highest growth in digital ad spending of any US industry, it will only account for about 6% of 2021’s digital ad dollars. For context, retail will spend the most of any industry: 1 in 4 digital ad dollars will be spent on retail. Second will be CPG, holding 16.0% of the pie, and behind that will be financial services at close to 13%.

Looking ahead: We predict entertainment, retail, and CPG will continue to see higher digital ad spending growth than other US industries in 2022, though growth will be in the 10% to 20% range rather than 30% to 40%. Insider Intelligence subscribers can read more about this and other predictions in our Digital Ad Spending forecast.