Advertising is increasingly measured through digital channels, including search, display, video, podcasts, social platforms, and retail media. U.S. internet advertising revenue reached $258.6 billion in 2024, up 14.9% year over year, according to the IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2024. The 2024 result was the highest digital advertising industry result since 2021, according to IAB Digital Ad Revenue Surges 15% YoY in 2024.
Table of contents
- U.S. internet advertising revenue
- Search and display advertising
- Digital video and connected TV
- Video formats and advertiser categories
- Podcast advertising
- Major advertising platforms
U.S. internet advertising revenue
The U.S. internet advertising market generated $258.6 billion in 2024. The 14.9% year-over-year increase indicates a substantial expansion in reported revenue during the year, while the IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2024 provides the measurement context for that total.
The annual result also establishes a useful point of comparison for the broader digital market. IAB Digital Ad Revenue Surges 15% YoY in 2024 describes the 2024 industry result as the highest since 2021. That comparison refers to the industry’s reported digital advertising result, rather than to one individual platform or one advertising format.
The market total is distributed across several channels. Search advertising generated $102.9 billion in 2024 and represented 39.8% of total internet advertising revenue, according to IAB Digital Ad Revenue Surges 15% YoY in 2024. Display advertising generated $74.3 billion and represented 28.7% of total internet ad revenue in the same year.
These two categories together accounted for $177.2 billion in reported 2024 revenue when their stated dollar figures are placed side by side. The percentages show that search was the larger of the two measured categories, while display remained a major component of the internet advertising market. The figures are reported category values for 2024 and should not be read as a forecast.
Search and display advertising
Search advertising’s $102.9 billion 2024 revenue made it the largest specifically identified category in the supplied U.S. internet advertising breakdown. Its 39.8% share provides a direct indication of how much of the measured market was associated with search during the year. The share is attributed to IAB Digital Ad Revenue Surges 15% YoY in 2024.
Display advertising reached $74.3 billion in 2024, with a 28.7% share of total internet advertising revenue, also according to IAB Digital Ad Revenue Surges 15% YoY in 2024. Display’s reported dollar value was lower than search’s, but its share was large enough to represent more than one-quarter of the total market.
| 2024 U.S. internet advertising category | Revenue | Share of total internet ad revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Search advertising | $102.9 billion | 39.8% |
| Display advertising | $74.3 billion | 28.7% |
| Total internet advertising | $258.6 billion | — |
The category figures should be kept distinct from platform-company revenue. Search advertising is an industry category, while company reports may group advertising by product family, geography, or reporting segment. For example, Alphabet separately reported Google Search and other revenue, YouTube ads revenue, and Google Network revenue for 2024.
Digital video and connected TV
Digital video ad spend rose to $54.0 billion in 2023, according to the IAB 2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report. The same report projected digital video ad spend at $62.9 billion in 2024 and projected 16% growth for that year. Because the 2024 figures are projections, they describe an expected outcome rather than a confirmed historical result in the supplied material.
The IAB 2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report also projected 2024 digital video growth to be nearly 80% faster than total media overall. Since 2020, digital video’s share of video spend shifted nearly 20 percentage points from linear TV to digital video, according to the same report. This is a share shift over time, not a dollar total.
Connected television, or CTV, was another significant part of the video market. CTV ad spend exceeded $20 billion for the first time in 2023. For 2024, the IAB 2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report projected CTV ad spend growth of 12% and projected CTV growth to be 32% faster than total media overall.
For 2024, the report projected $22.7 billion in CTV ad spend, $23.4 billion in social video ad spend, and $16.8 billion in online video ad spend. These are separate projected channel values for 2024. They should not be added to the $258.6 billion internet advertising total without knowing whether the category definitions and reporting boundaries align.
Programmatic transactions were prominent in CTV buying. Programmatic accounted for three-fourths of CTV transactions, according to the IAB 2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report. Within programmatic CTV activation, open exchanges and real-time bidding accounted for 36%, preferred deals accounted for 24%, and private marketplace deals accounted for 40%.
Video formats and advertiser categories
Advertiser buying behavior in digital video was concentrated in several formats. Digital video buyers purchased ads on short-form video at a 69% share, while buyers purchased ads on vertical-oriented video at a 68% share, according to the IAB 2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report. These figures describe buyer shares for the reported formats, not the share of total video revenue.
The report’s projected 2024 digital video spending also varied by advertiser category. Consumer packaged goods led the listed categories at $12.6 billion. Retail was projected at $7.4 billion, technology at $6.5 billion, and entertainment and media at $5.9 billion.
Pharmaceutical digital video spend was projected at $5.4 billion in 2024, followed by auto at $5.1 billion and financial services at $4.6 billion. Restaurants were projected at $4.4 billion, while B-to-B digital video spend was projected at $4.1 billion.
The remaining listed categories were smaller in projected dollar terms: travel at $2.1 billion, wellness at $1.4 billion, and apparel at $0.8 billion. All of these category values are 2024 projections from the IAB 2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report, so they should be read as estimates for that period rather than confirmed final totals.
| Advertiser category | Projected 2024 digital video spend |
|---|---|
| Consumer packaged goods | $12.6 billion |
| Retail | $7.4 billion |
| Technology | $6.5 billion |
| Entertainment and media | $5.9 billion |
| Pharmaceutical | $5.4 billion |
| Auto | $5.1 billion |
| Financial services | $4.6 billion |
| Restaurants | $4.4 billion |
| B-to-B | $4.1 billion |
| Travel | $2.1 billion |
| Wellness | $1.4 billion |
| Apparel | $0.8 billion |
Podcast advertising
Podcast advertising revenue increased to $1.9 billion in 2023 and grew 5% during that year, according to the IAB U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study: 2023 Revenue & 2024-2026 Growth Projections. The 2023 result is a reported historical figure, while the later values in the study are projections.
For 2024, podcast ad revenue was projected to grow 12% and reach more than $2 billion. The same study projected podcast advertising revenue to reach nearly $2.6 billion by 2026. The 2024 and 2026 figures are explicitly forward-looking estimates in the study and should not be presented as audited or final revenue results.
The podcast figures show a smaller measured revenue base than search, display, or digital video, but they also identify continued projected growth beyond 2023. The comparison is useful only when the differing channel definitions and measurement periods are kept visible: podcast revenue was reported for 2023, while the $2 billion-plus and nearly $2.6 billion figures were projections for 2024 and 2026.
Major advertising platforms
Company annual reports provide another view of advertising’s scale. Meta reported $162.355 billion in Family of Apps revenue in 2024, a 22% increase. Meta’s total revenue was $164.501 billion, also up 22%, according to the Meta 2024 Annual Report. Meta reported that advertising revenue increased by $28.68 billion in 2024 and grew 22%.
Meta’s ad impressions delivered increased 11% in 2024. Its worldwide family daily active people averaged 3.35 billion in December 2024, increasing 5% year over year for that month. Meta’s annual worldwide average revenue per person, or ARPP, was $49.63 in 2024, up 15% from 2023. These platform metrics cover different concepts: revenue, ad delivery, user activity, and annual average revenue per person.
Meta also reported that constant-currency total revenue for 2024 would have been $165.37 billion and constant-currency advertising revenue would have been $161.51 billion. Those are constant-currency presentations in the Meta 2024 Annual Report and are distinct from the reported revenue totals.
Amazon reported $56.214 billion in advertising services revenue in 2024, up from $46.906 billion in 2023, according to the Amazon 2024 Annual Report. Amazon also reported $21.4 billion in advertising and other promotional costs in 2024. Advertising services revenue represented 8.8% of Amazon’s 2024 revenue, based on $56.214 billion out of $637.959 billion.
Alphabet reported $350.018 billion in total revenue in 2024, up 14%, according to the Alphabet 2024 Annual Report. Google advertising revenue was $264.590 billion, up from $237.855 billion in 2023. Within that total, Google Search and other revenue was $198.084 billion, YouTube ads revenue was $36.147 billion, and Google Network revenue was $30.359 billion.
Alphabet’s Google Services total revenue was $304.930 billion in 2024. Google Cloud revenue was $43.229 billion, operating cash flow was $125.3 billion, and capital expenditures were $52.5 billion. The company had 183,323 employees as of December 31, 2024. Separately, the Alphabet Q4 2024 Earnings Call reported that YouTube and Cloud revenues combined ended 2024 at a $110 billion annual run rate; an annual run rate is a pace-based measure, not the same as a full-year reported revenue total.