Local Social Ads Are Driving Growth

Businesses comfort with social media, the ease of use for ad targeting, and ability to reach local consumers are driving the growth. BIA’s U.S. Local Advertising Forecast 2019 forecast that local social is growing at a good rate from 2018-2023 and will account for more than half of total social media advertising by 2023. Facebook will have the largest share. Don’t discount mobile. Mobile advertising revenue is growing rapidly on all fronts, with the mobile social advertising segment contributing the most to overall spending growth over the forecast period. Adoption of social media ads even with the smallest local businesses is growing according to BIA’s SAM survey of local businesses.

Targeted social and mobile channels are the most popular with local businesses, which isn’t surprising given consumers use of social and mobile. Social and mobile are quickly taking over as the preferred method for digital advertising and there’s an increasing need for that digital message to be personalized. When it comes to targeted advertising, location targeting was the most used factor. When we look at what types of targeting of location, local businesses cast a big digital net with over half of the businesses surveyed saying they primarily target by city or county, with postal codes and state/regions the next most popular.

BIA’s U.S. Local Advertising Forecast 2019 offers a five-year forecast of the top media including direct mail, local video, online/interactive (i.e,. local search and local display), newspapers, mobile, radio, out-of-home/OOH video, directories (i.e. PYP and IYP), social and local magazines.

The forecast can be purchased separately, or by subscribing to BIA ADVantage.