Internet Advertising overtakes TV Advertising

Following on from my recent post regarding the convergence of Internet and DOOH, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has reported that online advertising has overtaken television. According to Reuters, Internet advertising spend grew 4.6% to a total of 23.5% of the total market.

In the same period television advertising spend flew 17% and dropping to second place, with 21.9% of the total ad spend. As a result, for the first time ever, the Internet is the top choice for advertising in the UK.

IAB chief executive, Guy Phillipson says, “This is a significant milestone…This is the first major market where online has overtaken television to become the biggest single medium.” The IAB report, conducted twice a year, found that online ad spend now accounts for 1.75 billion pounds, which is roughly $2.7 billion. Reuters reports that the increase in online ad spend is a result of economic conditions that are forcing advertisers to move to the web. According to their analysis:

“The IAB report said the Internet had avoided this slump, due to the strong demand for paid-for search on sites such as Google (Google) and resilience shown by classified online ads.

Paid-for search grew 6.8 percent from the first half of 2008 to 2009, with marketers investing 1.05 billion pounds, equating to 60 percent of all online advertising expenditure.”

Source: Mashable