Youth marketing: social media ad funding tops last year

With Facebook proving it’s possible to generate huge revenues from carefully targeting its audiences there are now plenty of startups crafting campaigns and developing technologies to help brands connect with mobile-first, Snapchat-happy younger digital audiences.

With social media and mobile messaging users continuing to grow, investors see plenty of potential for more companies to connect brands to audiences.

So far this year VCs have pumped more than $374m in to social media marketing companies, up slightly from the $342m raised over the whole of last year.

From the $33m raised by Brighton’s Brandwatch to the $60m taken on by Chinese firm Social Touch, the money going into social media marketing continues to rise. 

Social media is far from the only sector where investment is swelling. Across adtech, marketing and the worlds of content marketing and native ads, the ever shifting face of technology means investors still see exciting new opportunities in adland. 

We’ve seen $53bn invested globally in the first three quarters of this year, which is just shy of the total invested across the whole of 2015. That’s a lot of cash to fuel disruption and traditional industries and tech darlings alike are feeling the heat. But how do you decode the data? 

The speed of change means staying on top of the latest trends, break-out companies and deals is crucial. 

This has given birth to a new generation of market intelligence tools and news trackers such as Pivotl IQ, which combines a business intelligence platform with thought leadership analysis and industry events to help c-suite execs stay one step ahead of the pack.

Wondering who the tech success stories of tomorrow will be? Look no further. 

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