Digital ad sales is advancing so rapidly — our interactions of the world through tech are constantly changing. Homepage takeovers, video ads, native and programmatic are becoming more commonplace. In an increasingly contracting market, it’s time to expand from solely print ad sales to developing digital assets for your B2B toolkit. In 2016 there were 49,073 digital advertisers. That’s a number you can’t ignore!
Let’s take a closer look at the evolution of B2B ad sales. Who are the key players? What industries are early adopters? What are the digital ad formats of choice? And what high-CPM formats will close more deals so you exceed your goals?
This chart shows the ratio of industries buying digital only vs. digital and print. The trend is without question, leaning toward digital-heavy campaigns especially for software, finance, B2B websites, and colleges.
Let’s dig into “digital” more. Digital ads encompass mobile, desktop, native, and video ads. Native has been the surprising underdog in recent with over 1,000 native advertisers in 2016. Native advertising is particularly appealing for B2B advertisers due to the highly targeted, niche audiences of B2B publishers. It also allows advertisers more space to explain complex systems, science or software programs otherwise unavailable in banner ads.
Video is also gaining popularity for B2B audiences with top advertiser industries including finance, auto, software, film, and computer hardware. Video as a whole is up an estimated 53 percent year-over-year. The most decisive video data comes from advertisers’ renewal rate. Video ad rates have a renewal rate of 61 percent for advertisers who bought video again within a year and 41 percent bought video again within the same quarter.
Between the sheer volume of digital advertisers in 2016, renewal rates, and cross-platform trends — digital isn’t going away. Help advertisers break through the clutter of static online banner ads and earn more revenue with high-CPM ad units. For more detailed information on top industries and publishers for each of these digital ad formats, see our Evolution of Ad Sales for B2B Publishers Trend Report for 2016.
