According to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IABUK) expenditure report, the UK’s advertising industry continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, with the previous year seeing its largest increase in five years.
Despite the backdrop of a receding economy, UK advertising has increased 14.4%, reaching a new high of £4,784 million in 2011 up from £687 million last year, not too shabby for a depressed economy.
The top 5 categories for online marketing, counting for 63% of the market, are:
Finance (15%)
Consumer (15%)
Retail (12%)
Entertainment & the Media (12%)
Technology (9%)
Display grows 13.4% to top £1bn for first time
The driving force of display is banners and other embedded media, which continue to push display forward. Growth of this format was fuelled by larger, richer and more interactive ads that increased display spend by 13.4% to a high of £1,128 million (up from £945 million last year) and a 24% share of online ad spend.
Video and social media grow 800%
Video ads continue their unbelievable growth and now accounts for 10% of all online display advertising. Online video expenditure has doubled year on year to £109 million. The medium has increased more than eight times since 2008, when video spend was £12 million.
In 2011 banner ads on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, increased by 75% to £240 million – an 800% increase since records began in 2008.
Online is still the preferred direct response tool as search soars by 17.5%
Search marketing proved to be a recession-proof staple for direct response advertisers, recording impressive growth of 17.5% to £2,767 million, and a 58% share of online advertising spend in total – so it seems that all of our efforts have actually made a difference to online advertising.
Mobile ad-spend more than doubles
Advertising on mobile devices rose by 157% in 2011, to a new high of £203million, as a result of increased numbers of smartphones in the UK (1/3 of the population now own one), the explosion of touchscreen technology, 3G, and massive tablet sales, sparked a surge in interest from brands.
Did you know…
Online audience grows – on average last year there were 39.7 million people online each month – 375,000 more than the monthly average in 2010
The UK is addicted to social media – social networks account for 27% of all the time spent online in the UK last year.
Mobile and social behaviour – 38% (which is a whopping 19 million) of the UK mobile audience accessed social media via a mobile device in the three months up to January 2012, an increase of 35.6% year on year.
We’re prolific internet users – In 2011 UK internet users visited an average of 2,500 web pages across an average of 80 different web sites every month.
We’re a nation of video devotees – 27.3 million, of the 38.5 million people who went online in the UK on their PC in Feb 2012, viewed streamed content.
If you want to know more about how you can get into paid search ads, SEO or Facebook ads then get in touch with us today.
If you’re lucky enough to be an IAB member, you can view the full report here:
http://www.iabuk.net/research/library/2011-online-adspend-full-year-results
(Research and report conducted and created by PwC)
By Lucie Crouch, follow her on Twitter
