• by Joe Mandese , June 4, 2020

Digital media, including advertising and/or virtual events, are the main media the ad industry is using to replace the loss of in-person physical events. That's the finding of a survey of ad executives that Advertiser Perceptions conducted in early May for MediaPost.

Digital advertising was the No. 1 medium benefitting from the displacement of physical events, with 40% of executives citing it, especially among marketers (47% vs. 36% of ad agency executives).

Virtual events, conferences, concerts, and festivals were the next most cited replacement medium, followed by social media promotions.

Conventional linear advertising -- including TV, print, radio and out-of-home -- were cited as less significant replacement factors for the loss of physical events.

The survey did not distinguish between consumer or B2B media, but anecdotally, a number of major B2B events have either migrated to virtual ones, or have seen an uptick in B2B ad spending from those sponsors.