Since 2014, the two Internet ad giants, Google and Meta have been dominating the online ad space through their respective ad platforms, bundling online ad visibility across platforms such as Google Adwords, Google AdSense, YouTube, Google Marketing Platform (controlled by Google) and in the case of Meta: their Facebook, Instagram and Messenger platforms.

The online advertising duopoly’s dominance has for years made both companies a target of scrutiny by lawmakers, multiple investigations and lawsuits from government agencies and competitors. While they still control a significant share of ad dollars spent across the Globe, new and existing digital rivals are moving in on their territory.

Combined, Google and Meta capture 48.4% of the U.S. digital ad revenue this year (28.8% for Google and 19.6% for Meta), down from 54.7% at their peak in 2017 (34.7% for Google and 20.0% for Meta), per data from Insider Intelligence.

Moving in on the two giants are both new players in the ad space, such as TikTok, currently establishing themselves in the U.S. and European markets, as well as old players such as Amazon, which has grown its ad business to over $30 billion dollars annually.

TikTok is expected to earn $8.6 billion in ad revenue in 2024, which will make it the fifth-largest digital ad publisher in the U.S., following Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft/LinkedIn.