Google and Facebook Outpace Projections in the UK

Google and Facebook Outpace Projections in the UK
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Despite fines and scrutiny in the EU, Google and Facebook’s combined share of the UK digital advertising market will continue to grow, according to eMarketer.

Two tech giants will net a combined 68.5% of the £14.56 billion UK digital ad market this year. That’s higher than the 63.3% eMarketer has projected in Q1. Based on the current forecast, the duopoly’s share will surpass 70% by 2021.

“Despite economic uncertainty due to Brexit, Google’s and Facebook’s ad revenues continue to grow at the expense of smaller players,“ eMarketer forecasting director Shelleen Shum said. “When budgets are tight, advertisers tend to favor tried-and-true platforms that, on average, provide better measurement statistics and assurances against fraud.“

In 2019, Google’s net UK digital ad revenues will grow 10.0% to reach £6.20 billion. That will decrease its share of the UK digital ad market to 42.6% this year, standing at 40.5% by 2021. These figures are getting lower over time, but both are higher than what eMarketer had predicted in Q1, when they estimated Google’s 2019 and 2020 shares at 38.8% and 36.7%, respectively.

The lion’s share (83.4%) of Google’s revenues come from its search business. Google’s search will grow about 10% this year, capturing a staggering 79.9% of the UK search ad market. Meanwhile, Google’s share of the worldwide digital ad market continues to rise. It will grow to 32.0% in 2019, up from 31.4% last year. Google’s worldwide net digital ad revenues will total $105.33 billion, surpassing $100 billion for the first time.

Facebook’s net digital ad revenues will grow 25.6% this year to reach £3.77 billion. As a result, its share of total digital ad spending will swell to 25.9% this year, higher than the 24.5% previously forecast. Unlike Google, Facebook’s share continues to grow; it will surpass 30% of the UK digital ad market by 2021. Facebook also commands an 86.7% share of social network ad spending in the UK, far higher than that of any competitor. For reference, Twitter has a 4.7% share, and Snapchat follows with 2.8%. Facebook ad revenues are derived entirely from display advertising. This year, it will capture 58.5% of UK display ad spending, reaching 60.5% in 2020.