This cutting-edge text brings together a diverse range of scholars and practitioners to examine how digital has become the default space for advertising— in practice, communication, and commercial process.

Providing a wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary account of a complex contemporary moment for promotional communications, Digital Advertising Evolution charts recent and profound shifts in the advertising industry’s working models and assumptions about media, audience, data, research, consumer practices, and modes of persuasive promotional communication. Innovations and new advertising formats, including programmatic ads, AI, advergames, memes, branded content, and influencers, have transformed and reframed advertising theories and practices for a new generation. Contributions examine major technological and cultural shifts in the advertising field, considering how platforms have provoked a paradigm shift in the character and conceptual framework defining advertising. This thorough analysis of the field critically explores key concepts, genres, campaigns, history, academic theories, and major actors, as well as governance, regulation, and ethics to provide a complete picture of the current state of the industry.

Written for a global readership, Digital Advertising Evolution is ideal for advanced students and researchers of digital advertising and promotional cultures. It will also be of interest to professionals seeking to reflect on the changing industry.