Online advertising overtakes direct mail

Online advertising now has a 15% share of the market, with spend topping £1.3bn in the first six months of 2007, according to figures out this week by industry body Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). The share means that online has overtaken the direct mail sector, which has a market share of 11.8%.

Online advertising now has a 15% share of the market, with spend topping £1.3bn in the first six months of 2007, according to figures out this week by industry body Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). The share means that online has overtaken the direct mail sector, which has a market share of 11.8%.

It says that internet advertising has “again” buoyed the UK advertising industry, with 41.3% year-on-year growth. In the first six months of last year, £918m was spent on the medium, and the IAB predicts that total spend for 2007 could reach £2.75bn.

The total UK advertising market grew by 3.1% during the first half of the year to £9.1bn, although the IAB says that without online, UK media expenditure would have fallen by £147m or 1.9%.

An IAB spokesman says: “Once again the internet has propped up the UK advertising economy and remains the fastest-growing advertising medium.”

Classified advertising grew 72% year on year to £277.7m, with a 20.8% share of internet advertising spend. Internet display advertising, including banners, skyscrapers and rich-media formats, climbed 33% to £287m, with a share of 21.5%. Paid-for search was 44% up year on year to £762.3m – a share of 57.1% of the online total.

The sectors spending the most online include automotive, finance, recruitment, property, telecoms and retail.

IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson said: “The online market is developing at an astounding rate and once again we see exceptional growth and a significant increase in market share. We’re seeing women and the over 50s spending far more time online, which makes the internet a very attractive medium to a broader set of advertisers.”

The biannual study is commissioned by the IAB, in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre.