Online advertising hits $1.15b for March quarter

The digital advertising market continues to grow with the latest IAB/PwC Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) noting that it generated $1.15 billion during the March quarter, a five percent increase year on year. The video advertising market was the star performer for the March quarter, growing 79 percent year on year to reach $77 million.

The IAB/PwC OAER Report comes on the heels of the Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia (CEASA) Advertising Expenditure in Main Media report, which shows digital advertising snared 36 percent of the total $12.8 billion advertising market spend in Australia for calendar year 2014, up from 31 percent in 2013.  By contrast, FTA achieved 27 percent of the total market.

Says Alice Manners, CEO of IAB Australia: “The increase in video advertising expenditure is a reflection of the overall growing market understanding of the consumer’s desire to access content across a range of screens, all the time and at any time.

“The recent IAB NewFronts in New York saw a record number of major players unveil their new content offerings to an industry audience of unprecedented scale.  It’s clear the industry is heavily investing in video content and we expect to see this continue to translate into ongoing growth in video here and in every other major market worldwide.”

Mobile advertising has continued its steady climb, with one in three general display dollars being spent on mobile display advertising – an increase of 13.5 percent year over year for the quarter to reach $230 million.  The OAER shows this growth has been driven by smartphones, with phone based advertising revenue increasing 20 percent year over year, while tablet revenue grew six percent in the same period. Overall mobile advertising expenditure now makes up 20 percent of total online advertising expenditure.

The General Display sector experienced a renaissance to reach its highest share since IAB Australia record keeping began in 2003, representing 34 percent of the total online advertising spend ($388 million) for the March quarter.  Search and directories was again the top category of the quarter with its $504 million representing 44 percent of the total online market; and Classifieds captured 22 percent, an increase of 18 percent year on year to $255 million for the March quarter.

Of the General Display advertiser categories, auto advertisers remain the largest spending category with a 17.5 percent share. Real estate and FMCG advertisers continue to increase their share, now representing 11.2 percent and 8.6 percent respectively.  Within the Classifieds category, real estate remains the largest, followed by the recruitment and automotive categories.