• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 30, 2023

Email marketing has not yet been totally taken over by AI. But email teams selling AI products should be aware that they are part of a larger ad investment that is steadily creeping up. 

Over $40 million was invested in advertising AI products in digital, print and TV channels through Q3 2023, according to a study by MediaRadar. That’s a 250% hike over the $10.8 million spend up to Q3 2022.  

We’re not necessarily talking about big numbers for everyone. Of the 360+ AI advertisers in this data sample, 94% invested less than $100,000, adding up to $4 million. 

However, the remaining 6% contributed $36 million+ to the total. 

But Q3 alone saw the AI ad spend hitting $35 million, a 550% increase YoY.  

The biggest AI advertisers include IBM (IBM watsonx), Microsoft (Microsoft 365 Copilot), Dialpad, Salesforce (Slack GPT), and YourHana.AI.  

IBM watsonx drove 54% of the TV ad spend and made up 32% of online video.  

Meanwhile, the number of AI advertisers leaped by 135% in Q3, for a total of 180+. 

July was a hot month, with a jump of almost 100% MoM, for $1.0 million, while August had a 19% increase YoY to $3.5 million.

And IBM Watsonx and other new advertisers contributed to a 730% spike over August.  

“In today's advertising landscape, the surge in AI advertising investments in 2023 is not surprising,” says Todd Krizelman, CEO, MediaRadar. “It reflects not only the increasing importance of artificial intelligence, but also the dynamic nature of our industry.”

Online video accounted for $11.7 million in spend. Digital display and paid social were next, each driving around $3 million. 

MediaRadar analyzed ad spend on national TV broadcasts, national print publications and newspapers, online channels like websites, OTT channels, podcasts, social platforms and YouTube.