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Is the Meta-Google empire crumbling?

Meta used to be synonymous with social media advertising, Google with search… and together they ruled the digital ad world.

Is the Meta-Google empire crumbling?

But new industry signals show their duopoly is being challenged…

Ad and substract, Worldwide digital-ad revenues, $bn

Tilting the throne: Meta and Google account for $300B of all forecasted advertising revenue for 2022, with their rivals making up the remaining $100B.

$100B may not seem like much, but go back four years and you’ll find no trace of competing ad channels.

It’s like TikTok, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple showed up out of nowhere and stole a quarter of the ad spend.

Right place, right time: Privacy regulations are hitting Meta and Google hard, creating industry changes that suit these “challengers” in many ways…

  • Amazon and Apple can serve ads using their own first-party data.
  • Microsoft can use Bing data to fine-tune LinkedIn ads.
  • TikTok’s feed recommendation algorithm can help suggest ads to users.

Too many to count: Meanwhile, other marketing channels are becoming accessible to advertisers, including streaming ads, podcast ads, and even video game ads.

… And digital advertisers are already allocating budgets to platforms that aren’t social media or search engines.

Why we care: Knowing how the ad landscape is changing gives you the opportunity to try new and potentially lucrative channels—and plan your budget accordingly.

One thing is certain: digital marketing is getting more interesting than ever. If only there was a newsletter to keep up with it all…