11 May, 2009: Australia’s online advertising market has continued to show strong positive growth, recording impressive year on year growth of 14 percent according to figures released today by IAB Australia in its Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) which is compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Online advertising expenditure in Australia for the first-quarter 2009 (three months ended 31 March 2009) totalled $439.5 million, the largest first-quarter recorded. Combined with the record 4th and 3rd quarters of 2008, the results show an impressive 22 percent growth when compared to the same quarters the previous financial year.
Underpinned by strong growth in the search and directories sector of the industry, the report demonstrates a growing confidence in the online platform as a trusted, core and in some cases essential component of advertisers’ marketing and communications strategies.
As expected, the online advertising industry has been impacted by the effects of the global financial crisis; and local consumer and business confidence and activity, with Q1 showing a drop of five percent from Q4 2008. However, unlike most other advertising media that are reporting negative year-on-year revenues, online advertising has maintained strong year-on-year growth each quarter.
“Much will be made of the decline in revenues from Q4, but it’s important to note that historically Q1 online advertising revenues are always either flat or lower than Q4 in the online advertising industry,” said Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB Australia. “The fact that both the general display and search & directories sectors experienced positive growth and the classifieds sector saw only a minimal decline is encouraging in the current climate.
“Continued economic pressure on some of the key advertising industry sectors, notably automotive, financial services, travel, and in the classifieds sector real estate, employment and automotive, resulted in these sectors dampening the previous rate of growth in the industry
“However, as the online advertising industry develops new and improved audience measurement metrics and methodologies, more standards and guidelines specifically for the Australian market, and Australian based research and case studies, the industry is well placed to continue its strong, double digit growth for many quarters to come, especially when the Australian advertising industry begins its recovery from the current downturn,” continued Mr Fisher.
PwC lead partner for technology, entertainment and media, David Wiadrowski said: “The impact of the economic slowdown has strongly impacted the Classified market during the quarter, with the first decrease in year-on-year expenditure seen since record keeping commenced in 2002. The decrease in the General Display market from the previous quarter was to be expected, with the decrease showing a similar result to the trend of previous years.”
An expected migration of revenues into search and directories saw this sector pushing past 50 percent of total online advertising revenue for the first quarter. General Display advertising and Classifieds advertising accounted for 24.9 percent and 23.9 percent of the total advertising expenditure for the first-quarter 2009 respectively.
Finance, Computers & Communications and Motor Vehicles sectors continue to be the dominant industries using General Display advertising, and comprise 46 percent of the General Display spending. Motor Vehicles – Manufacturers was the largest subcategory which comprised 12 percent of the General Display spending for the quarter.
Recruitment continues to be the leading category for Classified Advertising expenditure, followed by Real Estate, then Automotive.
/Ends
About the Interactive Advertising Bureau
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the peak trade association for online advertising in Australia. As one of over 25 IAB offices globally, and with a rapidly growing membership, IAB Australia’s principal objective is to increase the share of advertising and marketing dollars that interactive media captures in the marketplace.
Officially launched in October 2005 by Australia’s six major online publishers – News Digital Media, Fairfax Digital, ninemsn, Yahoo!7, Google and Sensis Media Smart – together with the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA), the IAB has four objectives:
-To develop, coordinate and promote industry standards and guidelines that make interactive advertising a simpler and more attractive medium for agencies, advertisers and marketers
– To prove and promote the effectiveness of interactive advertising to advertisers, agencies, marketers, and the press
– To be the primary advocate for the interactive marketing and advertising industry
– To expand the breadth and depth of IAB membership while increasing direct value to members
For more editorial information please contact:
Pru Quinlan or Ashleigh Favaloro
Einsteinz Communications
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E: ashleigh@einsteinz.com.au
