SYDNEY: Advertisers spent $1.524 billion on online advertising in the 12 months to June 2008, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) latest Online Advertising Expenditure Report.
The report shows strong growth across all categories of online spend during the 2007 to 2008 financial year.
In the 12 months to June 2008, search and directories advertising remained the fastest growing category of online spend – up 34% to $706 million.
General display advertising was up 23% over the 12 month period to $411 million, while online classifieds grew 21% to $407 million.
However, the report shows search and directories recorded its slowest second quarter growth in years, up just 1.9% in the three months to June 2008 to $187 million.
General display, meanwhile, grew a healthy 21.2% to $114 million in Q2 2008, while classifieds was up 4.2% to $111 million.
Search and directories is typically the fastest growing online advertising segment and in the 12 months to June 2008 accounted for 46% of all online expenditure, leaving the classifieds and general display segments each with a 27% share.
Paul Fisher, CEO of the IAB, said there was still plenty of work needed to educate key industries yet to fully embrace online advertising - including FMCG, retail and government - on the effectiveness online advertising plays not only in direct response, but also in branding.
“Looking ahead to a period of forecast economic uncertainty, advertisers can continue to invest confidently in online advertising knowing that their target audience is spending more of their time online, and that online advertising offers a cost-effective platform to reach and engage that audience,” he said.
In Q2 this year, FMCG, retail and government advertisers combined accounted for less than 10% of all online ad spend.
