NEW YORK—A few marketing and media groups had notable business performances in 2020, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic that slowed commerce across the world. One of these firms was LinkedIn, which had “a very strong 2020, during which its total ad revenues grew 31.3 percent,” according to a recent analysis by eMarketer. The research firm said this sales gain was “driven by [LinkedIn’s] marketing solutions as B2Bs focused on targeting audiences working from home.”

In the coming years, the professional networking site will continue to see U.S. display ad spending increase from $1.29 billion in 2020, holding onto a little over one-third of the U.S. B2B digital display ad market, according to eMarketer’s recent review of the B2B marketing sector.

As noted by eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Jillian Ryan in the firm’s report “US B2B Advertising Forecast 2021”:

  • LinkedIn makes up the largest share of U.S. B2B display ad spending in 2021 with a 32 percent share of the $5.1 billion market.

  • These sales are driven by ad types made available through LinkedIn Marketing Solution’s self-service dashboard, Campaign Manager, including sponsored content, in-mail, lead generation and other formats.

  • LinkedIn is outperforming other strong social media competitors such as Facebook and Twitter in U.S. B2B ad sales.
Looking ahead, eMarketer forecasts that LinkedIn will cross the $2 billion sales threshold for B2B display ad revenue in 2023, though its share will fall slightly as B2B advertisers continue to diversify digital ad spending.

The eMarketer full report on B2B advertising can be reviewed here.