U.K. Outstrips U.S. in Online Advertising

Four years ago British online advertising was just 1.5 percent of spend compared with 2.5 percent in the U.S. (IAB UK/U.S.). The tables have turned in 2006, with the U.K.’s spend (10.5 percent) being the highest in the world and almost double that of the U.S. (5.6 percent).

Traditional media budgets are suffering, and analysts predict that online advertising spends could exceed television by 2010.

In their December 2006 Advertising Expenditure Forecast, Zenithoptimedia predict online ad spend to rise 28.2 percent in 2007, with traditional media spend growing just 3.9 percent. In the last decade internet spend has exceeded cinema and outdoor, and by 2009 will have exceeded radio.

Broadband access is higher in the UK but is this the key to the growth? Or could it be that British marketers are quicker to adopt new media? "I'd like to think there's a cultural factor in the U.K., where we've been a bit more experimental on some of these things," said Rob Noss, European chief executive of MindShare Interaction, a new media division of Group M's MindShare unit (via CNET).

Tags: advertising spending, online advertising, UK