Mobile continues to dominate online advertising growth – total online ad market grows 15 percent

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Figure_1.JPGOnline advertising expenditure has continued to grow, reaching $ 910.8m for the March 2013 quarter,  representing 15 percent year on year growth according to IAB Australia’s Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) which was released today.

Figure2.JPGThe Report, which is compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), noted that online advertising on smart phones and tablets has continued its inexorable climb, recording 182 percent year on year growth in the March quarter 2013 which almost tripled the total mobile market from $13.0 million in March quarter 2012 to $36.6 million this quarter.

Within mobile advertising, tablet based advertising has exceeded smart phone advertising share for the first time since the collection of mobile data, increasing to 58 percent of all mobile advertising – up from 41 percent in the previous quarter.

Video advertising also recorded strong and sustained growth to reach $27.6m for the March 2013 quarter, an increase of $88m (or 46.8 percent) year on year.

 

The retail sector again reported strong year on year growth of 42.7 percent making it one of the biggest and fastest growing Advertiser Industry Categories this year within display advertising. The traditionally dominant sectors in display advertising, Motor Vehicles and Real Estate, also gained share this quarter reflecting greater consumer activity in these industries during the start of the year.

 

All three sectors grew year on year with General Display and Search and Directories both up 17 percent, and Classifieds advertising up by eight percent.  On a quarterly basis, Classifieds and Search and Directories achieved growth while General Display advertising declined slightly, reflecting a seasonal trend which occurs in all March quarters.

 

Says Gai Le Roy, director of research for IAB Australia: “It is pleasing to see a strong March quarter with year on year growth for all major sectors. The dual factors continued growth in consumer devices and expansion of creative opportunities for marketers has underpinned significant growth in both mobile and video advertising. We expect to see this growth continue with publishers, agencies & advertisers currently investing heavily in resources to manage these growing sections.”

 

General display advertising accounted for 26 percent of all online advertising, classifieds advertising accounted for 19 percent and search and directories advertising accounted for 55 percent based on expenditure for the March quarter. This equates to a total expenditure for each category during the March quarter of $497.15m for search and directories; $177.20m for classifieds; and $236.40m for display advertising.

 

The report is the fourth to be prepared under the ‘new approach’ introduced in the June 2012 report. This approach means data collected from industry participants has been supplemented by estimates for Google display, video and mobile advertising as well as Facebook display and mobile advertising; while the prior methodology for estimating Google search has been refined.