Television still accounts for the majority of global ad spending, but there is evidence that these dollars are shifting to the Internet.
Television’s 57.6% share of ad spend dwarfed the Internet's, which was just 4.5%, according to Nielsen’s Global Adview Pulse.
The richness of television as an advertising platform has made the medium the perennial leader in terms of ad spend.
However, ad spending on the Internet grew faster than all other advertising mediums, increasing by over 32% from the first quarter to the third quarter of 2013.
That surge comes on the heels of anecdotal and survey evidence that points to a reallocation of TV ad budgets to digital. Seventy-five percent of responding advertising executives said that they were "very likely" to shift TV dollars to digital video, according to a poll conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IBA) earlier this year.
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Many publishers have rushed to incorporate video inventory into their advertising portfolios, knowing that big-spending brands are most comfortable with TV as a medium.
This trend will help accelerate the shift of dollars from television to the Internet, and online video in particular.
While Nielsen did not include online video ads in its measurement of Internet advertising, it's a safe bet that big-spending brands won't migrate to digital with a mountain of money until online video and rich media formats provide them with the same kinds of narrative canvases offered by traditional TV spots.
To bridge this gap, Google has recently opened the BrandLab, a service that helps companies produce television quality video advertisements for YouTube. The venture has already attracted a number of high-profile companies, including Coca-Cola, Toyota, and Volkswagen.
Innovations in analytics and programmatic marketing are also helping the Internet ad medium gain maturity.
