Expect More Display Ads, Especially on Facebook

What’s the Latest Development?

A study by Internet research firm eMarketer says Facebook is on the verge of displacing Yahoo as the largest display advertiser in the U.S. The social networking site, which initially held off ads in its early days to avoid alienating users, is tipped to grow its net U.S. display revenues by 80.9 percent this year, to $2.19b. The second fastest growing ad-seller among the top five is Google, which should grow at a 34.4 percent clip this year. Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL will all grow at less than 20 percent, all below the overall growth of the market, which the firm estimates will be 24.5 percent.

What’s the Big Idea?

Gigaom says it looks like rumors of display advertising’s death were greatly exaggerated. “Why are display and banner ads—long criticized for being inaccurate, annoying, and easily ignored—currently on the upswing? It could be because of new technologies that employ big data processing and real-time analytics capabilities to make display ads more efficient—and more lucrative– than they’ve ever been.”