Digital Advertising Spend Grows by 14.4%

When the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) speaks, marketing professionals tend to listen. Its latest report has to do with UK digital ad spending in 2011 and the news is good, folks! Working alongside professional services provider PricewaterhouseCoopers, the IAB has estimated that UK brands poured £4.8bn last year into digital advertising, which makes for an increase of 14.4% from 2010.

Paid search accounted for £2.8bn of the total, or 58%, and demand grew by 17.5%. Display advertising contributed 24% to the overall amount, jumping by 13.4% to reach £1.1bn. Embedded formats (banners being an example) were responsible for 75% of revenues in the display category but other areas are quickly gathering speed. In the case of video ads, the amount doubled in 2011, surging to £109m from £54m. Social media is also a strong contributor to display growth, with banners on social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn bringing in £240m last year, or 75% more. Mobile advertising was the champion in terms of growth rate, posting an impressive 157% rise to £203m.

Tim Elkington, research and strategy director at IAB, noted that consumer-oriented businesses are being increasingly drawn to online display advertising. Retail and consumer brands are the ones making the biggest increases in their advertising budgets, he said. Last year retailers accounted for 12% of the display ad market, a score matched by entertainment and media. Meanwhile, financial services providers and FMCG manufacturers each had a 15% share.