Healthy state of affairs for European online ad industry

02/06/2008

The online advertising industry grew to an estimated £8.88 billion during 2007 according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe.

The figures show a year on year increase of 40 per cent and help close the gap in the US market which increased by only 26 per cent during the same year.

Despite 65 per cent of the spend occurring in the three main markets (UK, Germany and France), some of the smaller markets grew significantly with the Greek market almost doubling (up 91 per cent) and Spain increasing by 55 per cent.

President of IAB Europe Alain Heureux said: "Not only is the growth coming from some of the smaller markets which are seeing significant increases in their market value, but also from the more mature countries as companies move their advertising budgets online for the first time".

The study shows that most investment came in entertainment, leisure, telecoms, finance and insurance advertising.

It appears to be yet more evidence of the gradual shift away from traditional print advertising.