Is it a real story or "fake news" that the share of digital ad spending invested in Google and Facebook will decline for the first time this year, from 58.5% to 56.8%? Using questionably sourced data from eMarketer, the prediction of looming declines in ad spending share made Wall St. Journal headline news, burying the actual news that the two companies will capture a dominant share of a projected $14 billion in annual digital ad spend increases through 2020, driving 15% to 20% average annual growth for both companies. The primary contributor to a decline in the share of digital ad investments going to Facebook and Google is Amazon, which Jack Myers TomorrowToday projects will grow from $2.8 billion in 2017 ad revenues to $16.5 billion in 2022, with most of the dollars shifting from marketers' "below-the-line" commerce, promotional and retail slotting allowance budgets rather than from Google or Facebook. Rather than further depressing the outlook for Google and Facebook, however, Amazon's growth further accelerates the shift of marketers' budgets to walled garden commerce-focused platforms, thereby increasing -- not reducing -- the ad revenue growth of Facebook ad Google.
WSJ Publishes "Fake News" About Facebook and Google Ad Revenues
