Online advertising expenditure has increased 9.3% year-on-year according to data released today in the IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) prepared by PwC Australia. Total advertising expenditure for the quarter ended 31st March 2024 reached $3.746b despite a 4.2% softening in spend from the preceding quarter, in line with seasonal trends.
Compared to the quarter ending March 2023:
- Search and directories experienced 9.3% year on year growth, reaching $1.724bn.
- General display advertising reported a 14.8% increase ($1.410bn) driven by social, audio and video
- Classifieds expenditure dropped 1.8% year on year ($612m).
- Standard display (a subset of general display for traditional display banner formats) dropped back 6% and now represents just 9% of the general display market.
- Video and audio advertising both delivered double digit growth year-on-year, with video expenditure increasing 21% to reach $944.9m and audio expenditure increasing 26% to reach $65.6m.
- Although audio is the fastest growing reported format, the investment increase in video ad formats over the last 5 years has lifted it’s share of market (excluding search and classified listings) from 46% to 67%.
In terms of category spend:
- Travel and finance remained in the top five general display industry categories despite decreases in share against the March 2023 quarter, joining retail, automotive and health & beauty, each of which experienced increased market share.
- FMCG and home products showed a preference towards video advertising for the quarter.
For further details, the press release can be read here and IAB Australia members can download the report and data file below which give further insight into these figures.