FMCG becomes biggest online ad spender

FMCG joined the finance sector to become the joint biggest spender on digital display ads in the first half of this year, according to a study.

Supermarket
FMCG brands joined finance to become the joint top spending companies in online display.

Each category accounted for 16 per cent of the total £590.9m spent on digital display from brands in the UK, an overall increase of 11 per cent year on year, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC’s advertising expenditure report.

FMCG’s share of the market has almost doubled in the last three years as brands increasingly fold digital display into the wider offline marketing mix.

Anna Bartz, senior manager at PwC, said: “FMCG advertisers have joined the long-time leader financial services at the top of the spending charts. Interestingly, spend by FMCG advertisers increased across all digital channels, reflecting advertisers’ recognition of online and mobile as brand building platforms.”

Online and mobile ad spend increased 13 per cent to a record six month high of £2.6bn in total, fuelled by growth in video and social media.

Digital video advertising was up 43 per cent year on year to £49m, accounting for 12 per cent of total online ad spend. Spend on social media banners increased 36 per cent to £134m – a 23 per cent share of the total.

Ad spend on mobile continued its “meteoric rise” as UK smartphone ownership reached 58 per cent of the population. Mobile advertising grew 132 per cent to £182m, 7 per cent of all digital ad spend.

The IAB’s director of research and strategy Tim Elkington says there is still room for growth in this area, particularly in mobile where 60 per cent of the UK’s top 100 advertisers still do not have a mobile optimised site – in spite of findings that consumers spend more than 70 per cent longer on such sites.

He adds: “If all advertisers get wise to this, we’re likely to see significant mobile growth for some time yet.”

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