A new report from ad intelligence shop MediaRadar finds strong growth is US travel ad spend in 1Q2022, up 43% from 1Q2021 and reaching 98% of spend recorded in 1Q2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lodging sector led the 2022 resurgence, accounting for more than half the $623M US travel ad spend for January-April 2022, 64% of which was accounted for by 6 companies:
- Airbnb
- Expedia (VRBO)
- Hard Rock Entertainment
- Hilton
- Marriott
- Unique Travel Corp dba Sandals Resorts
But growth in ad spend is still largely on hold by both airlines and car-rental companies because of uncertainties about what 2022 will hold for air travel, and skyrocketing fuel costs.
Media usage has also changed in 1Q22, with TV share dropping from 46% in 2020 to 27% in 2022 and print's share dropping from 34% to 14%, while the spend share of video ads grew from 3% of total to 42%.
In absolute terms, the breakdown of the total $312M ad spend by format for January-April 2022 was:
- TV 49%
- Video 16%
- Print 16%
- Facebook 9%
- Display 8%
- OTT 2%
- Native 1%
Will the airline and car-rental sectors be able to make a comeback in summer 2022? And if not, how will that impact travel and tourism overall? How will the balance between flights and road trips change, and which destinations will be winners, which losers?
Watch this space.
