Technology and Electronics Brands Spend More on Digital Ad Formats in Video, Audio, and OOH Channels

Advertising spend in the technology and electronics category is increasingly shifting toward digital formats. Roughly 55% of its budget going to premium video, out-of-home (OOH), and audio end up in the channels’ digital formats, including connected TV (CTV), digital out-of-home (DOOH), and online audio, according to WARC Media data. 

In 2023, the technology and electronics sector is forecast to spend $593m on online audio, 57% more than it will on broadcast radio. Online audio ad spend now accounts for 61% of the sector’s overall ad investment in audio channels, a massive increase from 2016 when spend on online audio was only a fifth of the sector’s audio budget.

A similar picture can be seen across premium video channels where global technology and electronics category investment on connected TV – including broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) and over-the-top (OTT) – is forecast to reach $6.8bn in 2023. Meanwhile, ad spend on linear TV is expected to reach $5.6bn.

DOOH ad spend is forecast to take up 54.2% of all investment in OOH and reach $932m in 2023, rebounding from 2020 when DOOH ad spend dropped to its lowest at $283m.

Technology and electronics ad spend is forecast to grow at 11.5% amid the broader economic uncertainty, although the rate of growth has slowed significantly from a high of 68% in 2021. As the overall advertising investment reaches the top of the ‘S’ curve, marketers are redirecting ad budgets, decreasing investment in offline channels, and increasing spend on online formats such as online audio, CTV, and gaming.

Credit: WARC