Digital Bytes

GroupM predictions for 08

Ok, I promise this is the last of the predictions for 2008 but these concentrate more on the advertising growth than general internet trends!  An article was published in the timesonline this morning on GroupM forcasts for this year; and here are some snippets:

'Internet search is expected to contribute up to three quarters of all advertising revenue growth this year, while traditional media stagnates, according an influential industry forecaster.

WPP’s GroupM predicts that advertising will grow by 6 per cent in 2008, but without the contribution from Google and other search engines, the rate of improvement across other media would be only 1.5 per cent.

Internet advertising will also come close to overtaking television advertising in 2008, emphasising how fast the new medium has become a mainstream means of promotion. This year internet spending is predicted to hit £3.4 billion, up from £2.6 billion in 2007, on GroupM’s estimates.'

So, quite unsurprisingly, the internet is set continue to grow this year - for the full article, click here

Online ad spend tops £1.3 billion

A report released today by the Internet advertising bureau (IAB) has reported that the online ad spend has topped £1.3bn in the last 6 months.

Some highlights from the report:

• The sector has grown over 41% year-on-year during the first half of the year, taking £1.3bn compared to £917m a year ago
• Online advertising now accounts for 14.7% media market share, overtaking direct mail with its market share of 11.8%
• Internet classified advertising has surged 72% year on year
• Paid-for search market still dominates UK online ad spend, taking a 57.1% share of all spend

Online advertising spend exceeds 2 billion barrier

From IAB/PwC

A couple of weeks ago the IAB in conjunction with PwC published their bi-annual online adspend figures for 2006.  The main findings were:

Online spend exceeded the £2 billion barrier in 2006
Online spend experienced its highest market share ever reported in the second half of 2006 when expenditure topped £1.098 billion, a 12.4% share of total UK advertising
Internet's share of all advertising revenues increased to 11.4%, up from 7.8% in 2005
Whilst traditional media spend  declined by 2.9 %,  the entire market  grew by 1.1% due to the increase in online advertising

Drivers of this increase include:
Growth in broadband users
Increased use of video and more engaging, creative advertising or rich media adverts.
The explosion of user-generated content and social networking sites.

For more information, have a look at the IAB/PwC UK online adspend figures 2006 on the IAB website