NEW YORK—In 2020, B2Bs marketers in the United States overhauled their marketing and advertising as the coronavirus pandemic eliminated in-person channels. Digital ad spending, never a central part of B2B go-to market strategies, surged, according to a recent report from eMarketer.

The B2B digital ad spending in the U.S. market increased during the pandemic from $6.55 billion in 2019 to $8.68 billion in 2020, increasing 32.5 percent year over year, according to the firm’s July 2021 estimates.

Increased investment will continue this year, according to eMarketer. B2Bs marketers will spend $10.84 billion in 2021, climbing 24.9 percent year over year. Through the rest of the forecast period, the B2B digital market will continue to grow but at a slower rate: up 16.8 percent in 2022 to $12.65 billion and growing another 15.1 percent in 2023 to $14.57 billion, according to the research firm.

Here’s what has changed, according to eMarketer: the July 2021 update includes two notable revisions from the August 2020 estimates that also spotlight the dramatic shift to digital ads.

Last year, the firm forecast the 2020 growth rate for B2B digital ad spending in the U.S. market at 22.6 percent. “But given the resilience of the overall digital ad market during the latter half of 2020, we have updated this estimate considerably to 32.5 percent growth in our new forecast, reflecting the even more dramatic shift to digital for B2Bs,” the research firm said.