• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, September 13, 2016

Moving up its timetable, eMarketer now says digital advertising will overtake TV advertising spending by the end of the year. Originally, eMarketer said that would not happen until sometime in 2017.

Mobile and video advertising is propelling the faster-than-expected development.

By the end of this year, US digital ad spending will reach $72.09 billion, or 36.8% of the total US media spend. TV spending, also still growing, will expand to  $71.29 billion, but representing 36.4%.  

Mobile spending will grow 45%, to $45.95 billion in 2016,  according to eMarketer projections, and by 2019 it alone will represent more than one third of total spending. Google will continue to dominate that space, with 32% of the mobile market. (Facebook has 22%.)

Digital video spending is also strong, growing by double digit percentages every year. This year, video ad spend  will reach $10.30 billion, 14.3% of total digital spending.  That figure will grow to 15.1% next year, according to eMarketer.

Programmatic is a force behind some of these developments.

“Digital advertising is not only pulling dollars from traditional media, but it’s also creating new advertising opportunities at the local and national level,” said eMarketer forecasting analyst Martín Utreras, in a statement.  “Programmatic is making a lot of the inventory more accessible, not just to larger marketers but also to local and smaller advertisers. At the same time, the focus of the industry on viewability, native, and better measurement is driving more dollars and delivering better results.”