New figures from the UK Internet Advertising Bureau reveal that advertising on the internet and on mobile phones has increased by 12.6% to £2.6 billion in the first half of 2012. That’s a £294 million increase from the first half of 2011.
Digital advertising on mobile devices is up 132% to £181.5 million, driven by increasing smartphone ownership. In fact, 7% of all digital ad spend now involves some form of mobile advertising.
72% of mobile ad revenue (£131.6 million) is from search-related advertising, while the remainder is from display, video, SMS and MMS advertising.
Tim Elkington, Director of Research & Strategy at the Internet Advertising Bureau, said “Almost 60% of people in the UK have a smartphone, average UK household broadband speed is now 9MB and social media accounts for one fifth of all internet time. As digital technology and services evolve to make consumers’ lives easier, more connected and more fun, it’s no surprise that advertisers are coming to the digital party with bigger budgets, despite the challenging economic times elsewhere. However, there’s still plenty of room for growth. Take mobile; 60% of the UK’s 100 biggest advertisers still don’t have a mobile-optimised website yet consumers spend almost 70% longer on sites which are. If all advertisers get wise to this, we’re likely to see significant mobile growth for some time yet.”
[Research]