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Internet advertising spend overtakes TV

The online ad market is the only medium to see growth in an advertising sector badly affected by the downturn.

By Asavin Wattanajantra, 30 Sep 2009 at 12:36

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Internet advertising has overtaken TV to become Britain’s biggest advertising medium.

The first half of 2009 saw internet ads coping well with the recession, growing by 4.6 per cent to £1,752.1 million.

The figures came from a twice yearly advertising spend study from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) done in partnership with Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), and the World Advertising Centre (WARC).

These numbers were deemed very successful considering that the entire advertising sector contracted by 16.6 per cent during the same period.

The UK was the world leader for online market share, accounting for nearly a quarter (23.5 per cent).

“Internet advertising has beaten all expectations to achieve growth in the most challenging market conditions,” said Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the internet advertising bureau, in a statement.

“Online display has performed notably well against its peers in TV, print and radio despite more than £1.5 billion being wiped off the advertising industry.”