Labour peer: internet to take over from TV advertising

18/06/2008

Profero chairman David Puttnam has said he expects internet ad spend to outweigh TV ad spend within months.

"It's not about years any more; it's about looking at the month-on-month figures," he said.

"These will show internet crossing the tipping point by September, or November at the latest."

His comments appear to be well founded after a forecast by Enders Analysis found that internet ad spend accounts for 19 per cent of the total UK ad spend.

"Our forecast for 2008 is that online advertising expenditure will grow 26.4 percent in nominal terms to 3.56 billion pounds, overtaking TV ad spend, which we expect to fall 2.5 percent to 3.39 billion pounds," the report read.

"Rising internet consumption and surging consumer e-commerce continue to drive strong growth in online advertising, particularly paid search, in spite of the deteriorating economic outlook."

It said that while it did not expect all of the money to come from TV, there are early signs of a shift between the two.