UK leads in online ad spend but growth stalled

The UK still has a higher proportion of its advertising spend allocated to online activity than any other European market, according to a report.

Money

The data collated by eMarketer shows that an estimated one advertising pound in every five in the UK was spent online in 2008.

However, the recession has brought growth in online ad spend to a halt with a forecast of just 0.9% for 2009.

Search marketing is expected to rise 4.9% in 2009, while classified and display advertising will fall approximately b 5% on 2008 spending levels.

EMarketer suggests that internet spending will regain momentum next year and then approach 10% growth in 2011. It’s thought that the London Olympics will help push growth into double digits in 2012.

Classified is set to grow again next year but at single digit rates while display spending should rise more sharply, driven by video format, and is forecast to reach £950 million by 2013.

Search dominates in the UK more than inn other territories, including the US. In the UK it accounts for 59.3% of online spend, or £1,987 million in 2008, and is projected to reach 61.7% in 2009.

EMarkter benchmarks its UK online ad spending numbers against figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Internet Advertising Bureau and the World Advertising Research Centre.