Pinpointed Internet Advertising a Growing Rival to TV Commercials in Japan

A study by advertising giant Dentsu found that total advertising expenditures in Japan during 2018 rose by 2.2% over the previous year, to ¥6.53 trillion, reflecting the slight economic expansion. This is the seventh consecutive year-on-year increase.

Advertising expenditures in the four main media—television, radio, magazines, and newspapers—decreased 3.3% year-on-year, for a total of ¥2.70 trillion. Spending on Internet advertising, meanwhile, rose by 16.5%, to ¥1.76 trillion. Online advertising has been growing at a double-digit pace for five straight years, lifting overall advertising expenditures. Advertising agencies are increasingly seeking to measure the effects of spending on ads and emphasizing targeted advertising, while “programmatic advertising” based on Internet viewing histories and search records is flourishing.

Television commercials have long been the dominant form of advertising, but now Internet advertising has emerged as a fierce rival. Although online ads only accounted for 5.5% of all advertising in 2005, as of 2018 the share had expanded to 26.9%.

The breakdown of spending within online advertising reveals that ads placed on digital versions of the four main media types, including online versions of newspapers and magazines, totaled ¥58.2 billion in 2018.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)