On-line advertising revenue is growing more quickly than that of
any media, industry trade group the Interactive Advertising Bureau
said this week. The group has set a new target of 4% share of the
UK advertising market by autumn 2007, after 2004's 2% target was
met a year early.
Figures published mid December by the IAB in association with
PriceWaterhouseCoopers show that in the first six months of last
year on-line advertising shot up to a record £151.6 million –
reaching the goal of a 2% market share that was set by the group
for autumn 2004.
In effect, says the IAB, on-line adspend has doubled in two
years. The year-on-year growth for the first two quarters of 2003
was a massive 85%, with the market being valued at £266.5 million
for the period between 1st July 2002 and 30th June 2003.
To compare with other sectors, in spring 2003 the on-line ad
market was almost twice that of the cinema ad market share at 1.1%,
and half the size of the radio market, which held 3.7%.
IAB predicts that on-line adspend will grow faster than in any
other media, and "with a united industry will be larger than radio
within three years." The group has therefore set a new target of a
4% market share by autumn 2007.
