Media ad spend in 2023 will grow 5.9% overall, year-over-year, according to IAB’s ad budget outlook. IAB highlights several high-growth categories, led by B2B (up 20.8%), travel (20.6%), restaurants/beer/wine/liquor (17.1%) and financial services (11.1%).

CTV is expected to be the fastest-growing channel, with projected sales up 14.4%. All other digital channels are expected to see some increase in spend, while traditional channels will decline in 2023.

Retail media networks. Nearly two thirds (61%) of these decision makers are considering placing ads in retail media networks.

As a result, spend on retail media networks is expected to climb 28.4% YoY in 2023.

Advertisers and agencies will primarily use retailer-owned (75%) and aggregated (82%) marketplaces to place these ads. Ecommerce-owned partners will also be used (64%).

Also, 91% of advertisers are looking to leverage the retail media network with onsite ads.

Goals for ads. The top goal for advertisers with their media investment is customer acquisition (61%). Other top goals mentioned by advertisers and agencies was increasing brand equity (43%) and improving media efficiency (35%).

Advertisers are also looking to get more out of their ad campaigns by spending more time on measurement, first-party data and creators. Roughly half of those surveyed said they’d make a greater commitment to these areas in 2023.

The survey was taken by over 220 buy-side ad investment decision makers at brands, agencies and some consultancies.

Why we care. These are sunny projections, especially for those in B2B, CTV and retail media networks.

The overall YoY projected growth, 5.9%, however, is down from 2022’s 9% growth. It’s clear that many advertisers are watching their budgets and bracing for recession or other bumps in the road. Meanwhile, the digital transformation of advertising continues, including the recent and ongoing acceleration of digital out-of-home (DOOH), and advertisers are taking notice.

One other trend to watch is a convergence of the two highest-growing areas in the IAB projection — B2B and CTV. This time last year, top B2B brands like Salesforce were ramping up their own video content hubs. Engaging streamers is a high priority for B2B advertisers, and CTV is the channel on which to do it.