Internet bags only 0.02% of UK ad market

The value of Internet advertising in the UK last year was only 2m, according to accountants KPMG.

This, combined with Verdict Research valuing retail sales at 1m, puts total commercial revenues from the Web in the UK at only 3m in the past 12 months.

According to KPMG, the total advertising market is worth about 10bn a year – the Internet has only managed to capture 0.02 per cent, or two-thousandths of the total. The next-smallest group in terms of ad revenue is cinema, which was worth 70m last year. The highest advertising revenues come from national and local newspapers, which were worth 3.6bn last year.

However, KPMG claims that many advertising agencies still keep the Internet at arms’ length because of the medium’s lack of audience measuring standards.

Kevin Parry, head of information for the communications and entertainment section at KPMG, who produced the report, says: “UK advertising agencies are generally reluctant to support Web promotion, on the grounds that the medium is untried, and that the audience data is sketchy and not verified.”