UK Internet Advertising Sales Overtake TV In 1st Half '09 -Research
September 29 2009 - 7:31PM
Dow Jones News
Internet advertising sales overtook television advertising sales
for the first time in the first half of this year to become the
U.K.'s biggest advertising medium, according to new research by the
Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The new research will make grim reading for commercial
television stations which have already lost a portion of their
advertising dollars to the Internet at a time when the recession
has shrunk the entire pool.
Internet advertising sales rose 4.6% on the year in the first
half to GBP1.75 billion, giving it a market share of 23.5%.
Television advertising fell 16.1% to GBP1.64 billion, dropping into
second place with a 21.9% market share, the research showed.
The entire U.K. advertising sector contracted 16.6% on the year
to GBP7.47 billion, according to figures by the World Advertising
Research Council.
The U.K. has led the charge for growing Internet market share
across the world for several years, according to figures from media
company Group M. Spokesman Adam Smith said this correlates closely
to the level of Internet penetration. He points to Denmark, which
also has high Internet penetration, and trails only slightly behind
the U.K. in its online advertising market share figures, as a case
in point.
According to Group M figures, which unlike the IAB don't include
direct marketing, online advertising accounted for just 13.9% of
U.S. advertising sales in 2008. TV had a 43.4% market share.
Enders Analysis analyst Ian Maude attributes this marked
difference in advertising trends across the Atlantic to several
factors, not least that U.K. TV advertising is affected by the BBC,
which is advertising free. But he also points to the U.K.
consumer's penchant for shopping and the growth of e-commerce, or
online shopping, which drives search advertising online.
"TV maintains its role as the big daddy of display advertising,
but the main driver of Internet advertising in the U.K. has been
search and particularly Google Inc. (GOOG)," he said.
And the future for Internet advertising in the U.K. is rosy,
with Enders estimating an annual market share gain of 3% both this
year and next, which is partly because all other advertising
mediums are contracting, "but it's still phenomenal growth" in the
current climate, Maude said.
-By Kathy Sandler, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-207-842-9293;
kathy.sandler@dowjones.com