Online ad spend on the up-and-up

Will surpass radio within three years

Between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2003 Internet advertising in Britain was worth £353.6m, 2.5 per cent of total ad spend. The second half of the year accounted for £202.1m of this total.

Year-on-year growth is more than 80 per cent, total online spending in 2002 was £196.7m. Online advertising is now two thirds of the size of radio advertising and is on course to be bigger than radio advertising by January 2007. The research comes from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The IAB found several drivers for this growth. The size of the audience - online surpassed radio in 2003 and the Web is the second most used medium for those with access. Better understanding of the need for a mix of media in any marketing campaign also fuelled growth. Increasing use of search technology by direct marketeers and more standardised products also helped growth.

The figures have been collected since 1997 and exclude production costs.

Paul Pilkington, director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “By talking with the finance departments of each company we are able to gain a deep insight into their actual revenues and the composition between the different advertising products and the industry sectors they service".

The IAB is releasing more details from this research on Friday. Their website is here. ®

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