Total digital ad spend grows 13.4% to touch £4bn in first half of 2015
Mobile spend up 51%, accounts for nearly 80% of the rise in digital ad revenues
Advertisers spent a record £3.98 billion on digital advertising in the first half of 2015 – up 13.4%¹ year-on-year – according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK Digital Adspend report, conducted by PwC
PROGRAMMATIC
ACCOUNTS FOR 28% OF UK DISPLAY ADVERTISING
Almost three in every 10 pounds spent on online display ads in 2013 were bought through ‘programmatic’ technologies, according to the first ever study which quantifies how UK digital display advertising is traded.
Conducted by research and strategy consultancy MTM on behalf of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB), the “Internet Advertising Bureau UK Media Owner Sales Techniques” study shows that of the £1.86 billion¹ spent on display ads across the internet and mobile in 2013, 28% (about £500m million) was traded programmatically. ‘Programmatic’ refers to display ads that are bought and sold using automated systems and processes such as real-time bidding.
Direct sales between publishers and agencies/advertisers accounted for half (51%) of UK digital display ad sales while just over a fifth (22%) were bought through ad networks.
“Prior to this new research there was no reliable way to evaluate how big a role programmatic plays in the display market so it was time to put a stake in the ground and give the industry accurate numbers,” says Tim Elkington, Director of Research & Strategy at the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau.
“It’s important the industry understands how the market is split as it enables all those involved – media owners, advertisers and agencies – to take advantage of the exciting opportunities programmatic presents.”
Here is comment from Martin Kelly, CEO/Co-Founder of Infectious Media - a leading player in real-time advertising:
"The growth of programmatic media trading in the UK is no surprise. The big story here is the underlying growth of display advertising. Programmatic has breathed new life into this previously exhausted channel. This turnaround of display is the surest sign that advertisers are waking up to the power that programmatic media buying gives them."