Despite a weakening economy, growth in online advertising spending in the UK is still strong and is expected to grow, according to new figures from eMarketer.
UK advertising spending is resilient chiefly because of the overall strength of the digital sector in recent years, said eMarketer.
Karin von Abrams, senior analyst and author of the UK Online Advertising: Reaching Maturity report, said: “Digital advertising and e-commerce are both well established, and advertisers that have had success with Internet marketing are unlikely to pull out in a downturn.
“So online ad spend growth should still be the savior of the overall ad industry in 2008.”
eMarketer estimates that spending in the UK will reach £3.4 billion in 2008. Search, display and classifieds will capture the majority of ad spending with £2 billion, £704 million and £621 million, respectively.
| UK Online Advertising Spending, by Format, 2008, (millions of £) |
| Search |
2,014.0 |
| Display |
704.8 |
| Classifieds |
620.9 |
| Other |
16.8 |
| Total |
3,356.4 |
| Note: display includes banners, skyscrapers and rich media (including video), search includes paid listings, contextual text links and paid includsion; other includes sponsorships, referrals (lead generation) and e-mail (embedded ads only; excludes mobile ad spending |
| Source: eMarketer |
“Classified is up as well, and in fact growing more quickly than search and display,” said Abrams. Marketers that have a sound strategy and have done their homework on audience targeting should continue to see good results, she added.
In December, media regulator Ofcom published research revealing that advertisers in the UK spend more money per person on internet advertising than any other country, at £33.
The second annual International Communications Market Report said that this figure is twice as much as France, Germany and Italy combined (see UK Advertisers Spend More Per Person Online Than Any Other Country).
The latest figures from the IAB and PwC revealed that online advertising grew almost 40% year on year in 2007 to a new high of over £2.8 billion (see UK Online Adspend Grows Almost 40% Year On Year In 2007).
This makes the medium the third largest last year, up from being the smallest market sector in 2003, taking its share to 15.3% from 11.4% in 2006.
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