UK Online Adspend Up By 65.6% In 2005
Total UK online advertising expenditure in the UK rose by 65.6% in 2005, reaching £1.4 billion and enjoying a market share of 7.8%.
According to new figures released by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), online media is driving the growth of the entire advertising market. Adspend across all other media combined fell by almost £200 million year on year in 2005.
The second half of 2005 saw year on year growth of 53.7%, with a total of £735.9 million spent on internet advertising, a 16.7% increase compared to the first half of 2005.
Display, search and classified online advertising all saw growth in 2005. Display went up by 44%, classifieds by 62% and search by 79% year on year.
Paid for search saw the biggest increase, up by 78.8% year on year, reaching £768.4 million in 2005, from £429.64 million in 2004.
The IAB claim that a key driver for paid-for search was a rapid growth in online audiences, up by 9.3% from 26.8 million in June 2004 to 29.3 million in June 2005.
Recruitment was the highest spending industry category in 2005, worth 22.1% of the total market in the second half of 2005. Entertainment and media accounted for 10.2% in the same period, followed by travel and transport at 10.1%, technology at 6.9% and the telecoms industry with 6.1%.
Online advertising expenditure is almost three-quarters the size of national newspaper advertising, with the media now more than twice the size of radio and significantly greater than the consumer magazines and outdoor advertising markets.
Commenting on the findings, Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB, said: “These figures surpassed all our initial expectations. To see such a massive increase yet again is testimony to online’s strengths as a medium to reach mainstream audiences. Our next milestone is £2 billion, a real possibility within the next 12 months, which would make online bigger than national press.”
Paul Pilkington, director of entertainment and media practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, added: ” The internet is totally transforming the ways in which we find, buy and consume products, services and entertainment, and we anticipate more growth in online adspend driven by advertisers simply following their audiences.”
Online is expected to continued its strong growth, with OPera forecasting global display advertising to enjoy a surge in popularity over the next five years, with expenditure forecast to hit £11.8 billion in 2010, up from £9.5 billion this year.
IAB: 020 8683 955 www.iabuk.net