Of the $590.4bn spent on advertising worldwide last year, 24.5% – or $144.6bn – went to the Google/Facebook ‘Duopoly’. This is after Google’s payment of $26.7bn to its network members (third party platforms that host Google’s ads). The Duopoly’s share is up from 20.3% in 2017, and is more than double the 10.8% recorded in 2014. The pair are expected to increase their share again this year, up 4.1pp to 28.6% ($176.4bn).
Looking only at the internet ad market, the Duopoly took over half (56.4%) of ad money in 2018 – a share which is expected to rise to...