Internet Advertising Defies Slowdown With Fast Growth Rate

Despite an increasingly sluggish advertising market last year, internet advertising grew by 203% during 2000 to a total value of £154.7m and is therefore expected to overtake cinema advertising, which is predicted to reach £128m for the year.

The news comes with the release of an industry survey run by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The total spend on internet advertising is up from £51m during 1999 and £19.4m in 1998.

Danny Meadows-Klue, IAB UK chairman said, “These growth rates are unparalleled in traditional media and reflect the growth and breadth of ways that marketers are using internet advertising. We’re also seeing a real growth in the integration of campaigns between online and traditional media which shows how marketers are learning to exploit the strengths of each of the new digital channels.”

With the boom in online businesses at the start of last year, this growth would in some way be expected. However, since then the fortunes of the internet have taken a downturn. The IAB report nevertheless claims that growth is ongoing. Paul Pilkington, senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “In spite of a difficult year for the advertising sector as a whole, UK internet advertising has continued to grow steadily. These figures confirm that internet advertising has maintained quarter on quarter growth throughout 2000- something which no other UK advertising medium – even traditional classified advertising and direct mail – achieved.”

Internet Advertising Bureau: 020 8683 9557 www.iabuk.net

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