AOn this Wednesday and Thursday, the online advertising industry will gather in Cologne at the Dmexco trade fair. As part of this, the Online Advertising Circle (OVK) within the Federal Association of the Digital Economy will release fresh figures on the industry’s development. Typically, the advertising market closely follows the economy and is susceptible to disruptions in uncertain times. In 2022, due to the energy crisis and the Russian war against Ukraine, there was limited growth. Similarly, for 2023, the OVK had initially projected a low growth forecast of 4.6 percent in its main area of digital display advertising (banner and video ads).
The OVK has now revised this forecast upwards by one percentage point to 5.6 percent, despite the poor economic outlook. Sales are expected to reach around 5.5 billion euros by the end of this year. „Customers have now adapted to the situation. There is more predictability again,“ says Rasmus Giese, Chairman of the OVK, in an interview with F.A.Z.
Advertising is often the first expense that companies cut when they need to save money. However, this changes when it comes to online advertising, according to Giese. Analog campaigns are discontinued because it is difficult to measure their success. „Digital advertising, on the other hand, provides immediate metrics such as clicks or sales conversions, so advertisers have a better understanding of where their money is going.“
It is noteworthy that according to the OVK, revenues from online display advertising are expected to surpass revenues from print advertising for the first time. In 2022, print advertising generated 5.3 billion euros in revenue, with a declining trend. Currently, digital display advertising is still competing with search engine advertising, such as Google’s business model, for the top spot. In 2022, search engine advertising was even bigger in Germany, with around 5.4 billion euros in revenue. However, the battle for supremacy in 2023 seems to be still undecided.