Australia's Online Advertising Spending in 2008

IAB Australia (Interactive Advertising Bureau) has just released the Online Advertising Expenditure report for the last quarter of 2008 and the figures are still growing.

Fourth Quarter up by over 2%

Even if the growth is not as strong as in the previous quarter or the previous year, the global economic slow-down has not yet shaken the Australian online advertising industry too badly. Q4 is the largest fourth-quarter recorded with $462 millions. In comparison to Q3, Q4's figures are 2.4% higher and 22% higher than the fourth quarter in 2007.

In the fourth quarter, both General Display and Search & Directories has achieved growth compared to Q3 (repectively 4% and 6%), while Classified advertsing has recorded a 5% decrease. Search & Directories account for 48.5% ($224 millions) of the total advertising spending, whereas Display represents 28.1% ($130 millions) and Classifieds 23.4% ($108 millions).

2008 Online Advertising Expenditure up by 27.1%

Online advertising expenditure in Australia for 2008 totalled $1,710.25 millions, which is 27.1% higher than the year before (+ $364.25 millions). The 2008 increase has been driven by a very strong increase in Search & Directories (30%) and strong increases in both Display (27%) and Classifieds (23%).

In 2008 Search & Directories accounted for 48.5% of the total online advertising spending ($806.5 millions), Display 27% ($464.5 millions) and Classifieds 26% ($439.25 millions.

For more detailed information on these figures, I would strongly recommend to download the IAB/PWC report

If you are interested in the online advertising spending predictions for 2009, please read this post