The Retail industry is still the top spender on advertising in the US, but its position relative to other industries has diminished in recent years. So reports WARC in a review of ad spending by category.
The Retail sector will account for 13.6% share of ad spend this year, the biggest portion for any sector. But that represents a cut from 5 years ago, when the sector led the way with 16.7% share of spending.
Although Retail’s share of US ad spend has shrunk in recent years, it hasn’t experienced the biggest pullback of the top sectors. Instead that distinction goes to the Automotive industry. Five years ago, the Auto industry was the 3rd-largest spender on advertising in the US, responsible for almost 1 in every $10 invested (9.3% share). Fast forward to this year, and the industry has tumbled to to 8th on the list, with its share of ad spend cut to just 5.1%.
The Auto industry, which has been slow to adopt digital advertising, will be lagging the pack this year in digital ad spend, according to recent projections. An eMarketer forecast calls for the Auto sector to increase its US digital ad spend this year by 10.8%, trailing the average industry-wide increase of 17.8% by a sizable margin. Moreover, on a global basis, a separate WARC projection figures that the Auto industry will be the only one out of 18 tracked to not increase its ad spend this year.
Returning to this latest breakdown, WARC’s data indicates that the Tech industry is one of the fastest risers in recent years. Back in 2017 the Technology & Electronics sector was the 8th-largest ad spender in the US, at 5.8% share of total spend. This year WARC expects it to finish in 5th, at 8.8% share.
Also rising in ad spend share relative to 2017 are the Business & Industrial industry (11.4%, up from 9.1%), the Financial Services sector (9.9%, up from 8.6%), the Pharma & Healthcare industry (8%, up from 6.6%), and the Government & Non-Profit sector (4.9%, up from 3.4%).