Key Points

  • Despite the pandemic, ad revenue projections for both desktop and mobile paint a rosy picture for publishers.
  • Mobile ad revenue is seeing unprecedented growth, while desktop remains a bastion of solid revenue projections for publishers.
  • Playwire can help you earn a bigger share of the ad revenue pie.

Advertising revenue isn't the only business model for publishers, but it is certainly one of the business models with the most potential. Every year, the ad revenue statistics for both desktop and mobile publishers confirm that fact.

This year is no different. We have a set of exciting, perhaps even shocking, statistics to share with you. Read on to get the stats.

Why are we sharing this information? To motivate you: If you're not already partnered with Playwire to maximize your ad revenue through our proprietary revenue amplification platform, you're leaving ad revenue on the table. Don't do that. Contact us.

Online and Mobile Ad Revenue Statistics Gif

General Digital Advertising Statistics

We'll get into more specific mobile and desktop ad revenue statistics, but first, let's take a look at some of the stunning stats surrounding the digital advertising industry as a whole:

Digital Advertising Spend Jumped by 35% in 2021

Between 2020 and 2021, total digital ad spend in the United States skyrocketed to a 35% increase, according to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report. That brought total ad spend to more than $189 billion and was the sharpest uptick since 2006.

Digital Video Advertising Is Growing at a Record Pace

According to the 2021 IAB report, digital video advertising was second only to audio advertising - driven largely by podcasts and music streaming - in year-over-year growth. Spending on digital video advertising grew by 50.8% in 2021, landing at around $39.5 billion in the U.S.

The Internet Economy Is Growing Fast, Despite Obstacles

A separate study from the IAB in 2021 found that the internet economy grew by 22% each year over the past four years on average. Despite obstacles like cookie depreciation and new privacy legislation, that growth far outpaced the average growth of U.S. GDP, which was just 3% over the same time period. Much of this online growth is driven by and, in turn, fueling digital advertising, leaving publishers to rake in the rewards.

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Mobile Ad Revenue Statistics

Mobile advertising remains an underutilized and potentially powerful source of app revenue for all kinds of publishers. Don't believe us? Just check these numbers out:

U.S. Industry Puts More Than 50% of Its Ad Spend Into Mobile

Before 2021, industry experts predicted that, across all U.S. industries, more than 50% of digital ad spend would go to mobile ads. And the predictions were right, signaling a bold new era for mobile advertising and the potential app revenue it can produce for publishers. 

Mobile Advertising Keeps Hitting New Spend Records

Worldwide, the amount of money brands and advertisers are putting into mobile advertising is not only increasing but reaching new records. In 2021, for example, mobile ad spend hit a new global record of more than $288 billion.

Experts Believe Mobile Ad Spend Will Increase Sharply in the Next Few Years

If you thought $288 billion was high in 2021, wait until you hear what the latest data suggests that total mobile ad spend will be in 2024. Globally, that figure is expected to reach $413 billion by 2024. Mobile gaming is likely to account for a large portion of that increase - research suggests that mobile gaming ad spend will jump from $46.7 billion in 2021 to $130.9 billion in 2025.

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The Complete Ad Revenue Resource Center

Desktop Ad Revenue Statistics

Mobile may be the relatively new and shiny thing in digital ad revenue, but desktop still packs a revenue punch when it comes to advertising. The numbers fully support that assertion:

Desktop Ad Revenue Is Still Increasing

It's true that the rise of mobile chipped away at desktop advertising revenue for a few years between 2012 and 2015, but that's not the case today. In fact, according to data from Pew Research Center, desktop advertising has been increasing every year since 2016. Between 2016 and 2020, total U.S. desktop ad revenue jumped from $31.1 billion to $40.6 billion.

Desktop Display Isn't Dead

There are so many new and exciting ad units to help publishers secure the coveted premium brand revenue, but there's still something to be said for the old standby: desktop display. Between 2019 and 2020 (the latest year for which data was available), desktop display revenues increased by 15.4% to reach a total of around $44 billion. Despite innovative ad units and a rise in video spend, display's total market share even increased slightly year over year.

Don't Count Out the Ever-Reliable Digital Video Ad

Although mobile video grabs all the headlines and much of the attention of big brands, it's a mistake for a publisher to leave out digital video content for desktop. While this segment claimed a relatively modest $7.7 billion in digital ad spend in 2020, that figure represented year-over-year growth of 10.5%.

Grow Your Ad Revenue with Playwire

If you felt your pulse quicken while you were reading some of those online and mobile ad revenue statistics, you weren't having a heart problem. You were feeling the potential - the potential of all of the digital ad revenue you still stand to earn.

When you're ready to capitalize on that potential, Playwire is ready to help you do it. We employ the best minds in ad tech to build systems and platforms that pair machine learning with human sophistication. And there's only one end goal: Pushing your revenue through the roof and reaching new heights every single day.

Let's make that happen together. Contact our team today.

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