Online Advertising in 2009: Strong Growth

PriceWaterhouseCoopers have released a detailed report for IAB Australia, outlining significant growth for the 2009 financial year within online advertising. The rate of growth, 18.5% year on year for the financial year ending June 30th 2009 shows that online advertising is rapidly increasing and not slowing like its lagging brethren – print.

Advertising expenditure totaled $1.8 Billion for 2009, with numerous media agencies planning strong second half growth in 2009 – with this outlook we should be seeing strong figures in the next 12 months.

The global financial crisis has not been as severe on marketing budgets as first expected, agencies and marketing departments are instead looking to strengthen their market presence in a time when advertising rates are notoriously low.

Search and directories continues to provide strong growth for the market, accounting for 49% of online expenditure and providing the strongest return on investment than any other medium.

While display grew slightly, its lack of ROI has turned multiple media buyers and agencies away from large booking schedules.

Wiliam is noticing large amounts of marketing dollars moving towards accountable mediums of online marketing, especially in the search & social media sectors. The control, expenditure and strategy behind these campaigns are proving much more effective than that of display advertising which appears to have peaked early 2008.

Another sign of display advertising struggling to compete with its colleagues is that of integrated advertising solutions on major publisher networks. The Herald and numerous news websites are constantly branded, guttered and producing over the page advertisements for brands in an attempt to drive more dollars through the door at a time when spending is starting to slow.

Further information available in the IAB full report.