Fastest growing area of European online advertising market

The fast rise in popularity of online video advertising has been confirmed in new figures that show the market for this type of ad grew by 90% to €63m (£56m) in the UK in 2010, and doubled in most European markets.

Online Advertising

• Along with mobile and social advertising, video helped make display advertising the fastest growing form of online advertising in Europe last year, rising by 21.3%, according to this week’s IAB (International Advertising Bureau) Europe AdEx survey. It was followed by search marketing, which grew by 15.1%. while classified and directory advertising brought up the rear at about 7%.
• Search does, however, remain the biggest category in online marketing, with 45% of total advertising spend, compared to 33% for display and 22% for classifieds and directories.
• Online is an increasingly important part of the total advertising market. In 2010 it took 28.7% of the UK advertising spend, the biggest share of any European country. Across Europe, online accounted for 18% of a €17.7bn (£15.7bn) advertising market, up from €15.3bn (£13.6bn) in 2009.1

1. The UK also retained its position as the European country with the highest level of spending on online advertising. The leading European countries in online advertising – the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain – between them accounted for 74% of the total market. Central and Eastern European markets (CEE) now represent 9.8% of the total.
2. But when it comes to mobile display advertising, Finland leads the way, accounting for 11.4% of the European market, compared to 3.5% in Italy, 3.1% in Spain and 2.8% in the UK.
3. Vincent Létang, senior analyst at IHS Screen Digest, said: “Back in 2009, video was the only growth engine in an otherwise flat display market. In 2010, by contrast, three pillars – mobile, video and social – attracted new advertising investment. On top of fast-growing new formats, lets not forget that traditiaonl PC-based banner-style formats have retained their appeal thanks to innovations in design and targeting and a rise in mainstream brands using display for branding campaigns.