Ad spend is growing

Advertising spend in the UK is growing rapidly and is set to continue into the foreseeable future.

According to the latest report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), Internet ad spend topped £2.8bn in 2007, making online the largest ad market.

Online spend continued to grow at a rate of 38% year-on-year in 2007, with a market share of 15.3%, up from 11.4% in 2006. The IAB claims the rate of growth for online is nine times faster than the entire ad market.  They also claimed that faster broadband speeds and greater ownership of laptops propelled internet advertising spending to 38%

The continued growth was fuelled largely by display, search and classified, which experience a 31% year-on-year increase.

Classified advertising online also experienced substantial growth, up 54% last year to £585.3m. Recruitment companies remained the heaviest spending advertiser in this sector, with a 25.7% market share.

The automotive sector was the next biggest user of classified advertising with 11.9%, while technology leapfrogged finance for the first time to take third place.

The report predicted that if the growth continued, online could take over TV spend by the end of 2009 (Online adspend set to overtake TV in 2009).

Hayley 2008-05-01