Global Ad Trends: The pivot to e-commerce

James McDonald, Rob Clapp

This report summarises the latest research from WARC's Data platform, with a focus on how brands are shifting ad budgets to drive online sales. Key findings include:
  • Brands are set to spend $59bn on e-commerce advertising this year as they intensify lower-funnel tactics in response to COVID-19. Ad investment is growing 30 times faster than the wider online ad market and growth has coincided with a sharp fall in spend across major media. 
  • Alibaba controls the world’s third-largest ad business. It is set to make $23.5bn from selling ad inventory across its e-commerce properties this year, but growth has slowed as SMEs – core to its keyword search business – have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. 
  • Amazon’s ad business is growing 4.5 times faster than...

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