Over one in four British consumers now owns a tablet, with advertisers spending a record £6.3 billion in 2013 to reach people across devices, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) digital adspend report, conducted by PwC.
36% of people accessing the internet now do so via a tablet, according to UKOM and comScore, with UK tablet ownership growing 63% year on year in February 2014 to almost 18 million.
Research from the IAB reveals that 57% of tablet owners say it is their ‘go-to’ device to surf the internet at home, with 66% saying that it is easier to go online using a tablet.
In 2013, advertising on the internet and mobile phones increased by 15.2% like-for-like to £6.3 billion, while tablet-dedicated advertising grew over 400% to surpass £34 million in 2013, up from £6.8 million in 2012.
Mobile advertising grew by 93% like-for-like to £1.03 billion in 2013 from £529 million in 2012, and currently accounts for 16% of all digital adspend.
In 2013 social media adspend on mobile increased to almost £222 million, and across digital overall, grew 71% to just over £588 million.
In the same period, video advertising grew by 62% year on year to £325 million and now accounts for 18% of all online and mobile display advertising.
Driven by mobile display and video, the consumer goods sector continued its dominance as the biggest spender on digital display advertising overall, accounting for 18% in 2013, compared with 16% in 2012.
Boosted by video and social media, display advertising across the internet and mobile grew above the overall digital rate at 22% (compared with 15%) on a like-for-like basis to £1.86 billion.
With mobile display growing by 180% on a like-for-like basis to just over £432 million in 2013, mobile now accounts for 23% of total digital display advertising.
Paid-for search marketing increased 14% on a like-for-like basis to £3.5 billion, while classifieds – including recruitment, property and automotive listings – grew 9% like-for-like to £887 million – accounting for 14% of digital adspend.
“Digital advertising continues to grow at impressive rates simply because marketers are becoming more responsive and savvy to the increasing ways people consume content across different devices,” said Tim Elkington, director of research and strategy at the IAB.
“However, there’s still a lot of work for the industry to do when it comes to tablet advertising. Spend on ads designed specifically for tablets is growing fast but it’s still a very small part of the pie – despite the increase in tablet ownership, and the crucial role they play in people’s internet use at home.
“The tablet has moved from the offices of early adopters to the nation’s living rooms and advertisers should be following suit.”
