Outsell: Marketers to spend more on digital than print this year

Sean Callahan
Story posted: March 8, 2010 - 12:48 pm EDT

Burlingame, Calif.—Spending on digital advertising and marketing will overtake print for the first time this year, according to a report released Monday by Outsell.

The report, “Marketing and Ad Spending Study 2010: Total US and B2B Advertising,” forecasts that marketers will spend $119.6 billion on digital strategies and $111.5 billion on print, which includes direct mail and newspaper and magazine ads. Overall, U.S. spending on advertising and marketing will increase 1.2% this year to $368 billion, Outsell predicts.

Total b-to-b marketing and advertising spending will reach $129 billion this year, a slight gain of 0.75% compared with 2009's dismal performance, Outsell forecasts. Most of this growth will stem from increases in b-to-b interactive spending, which is anticipated to grow 9.2% to $51.5 billion this year.

The Outsell report surveyed 1,008 U.S. marketers online in December.