Local media analytics company Borrell Associates has released a new forecast of local media advertising. This report is a follow-up to an initial forecast released in November and is, in the company’s words, “triggered by new information from Borrell’s principal sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Woods & Pool, D&B, IBIS World, and Borrell’s quarterly SMB Business Barometer.”
For us, the key metric overall is that local advertising as a whole is forecast to reach $148.9 billion in 2024. Notable within that context is that streaming audio is predicted to attain the second-highest growth rate (7.8%). In this reckoning, streaming audio includes podcasting, streaming AM/FM, apps, and smart speakers.
That 7.8% growth forecast adds up to $1.2-billion in revenue.
Interestingly, streaming video advertising is a slow-grower, predicted to reach 3.9% this year. But the dollar amount for ideo is nearly 20 times higher than for audio — $23.3 billion. Borrell’s interesting explanation for video advertising’s slow growth: “It presents a bit of a challenge for local businesses. They’ve been telling us in surveys that they don’t know how to purchase it or how it fits into their marketing plan.”
The image below is a concise presentation of Borrell’s forecast across all its survey channels:
A five-year growth graphic for each channel is also provided, showing the best at-a-glance view of ad formats and their relative robustness over time:
The full deck is HERE, providing much more detail and interpretation.
