The real weight of Digital in the mediamix and how much goes to GAFAM

07 March 2023

According to Nielsen figures, digital media accounts for 17% of the media mix in Belgium. This represents a significant increase from five years ago, but it is still a significant underestimate. Social media, programmatic advertising, and other forms of digital advertising are not included in this study.

Fortunately, the UMA, UBA, and some larger digital agencies have initiated an effort to provide insight into their investments, which allows for a more complete picture. Based on these figures, we see that 33% of the total media investments in 2022 were allocated to digital media.

Breaking down digital advertising into subcategories, we see that 20% is spent on online video, 26% on display, 18% on SEA, 25% on social media, and 11% on other forms of digital advertising. Of the budget allocated to online video, 43% flows to GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft), while 29% of display advertising budgets are spent on GAFAM platforms. For SEA and social media advertising, all investments are made in GAFAM platforms. Overall, 60% of the Belgian budget for digital advertising goes to GAFAM.