Although growth is slower than in previous years, digital has bucked the overall advertising slowdown, with the latest IAB Online Advertising Expenditure Report prepared by PwC revealing the market grew 3% quarter on quarter and 6.5% year on year to reach $2.381b for the September quarter. The report, which is recognised as the industry standard for independent market level industry intelligence in Australia, has been revamped to enable members to review market data at a glance.
The three advertising categories, general display, classifieds and search & directories all recorded year on year growth, broadly maintaining their respective share of market spend.
Within general display, the travel sector is now within the top three industries, almost doubling its share of spend to 8.2% of the total general display market for the quarter. Automotive remains the top spending advertising category representing 22% of display revenue for content sites.
Video was the main driver within general display advertising, growing steadily through the September quarter to reach $413m and 48% of the total display spend, fueled by the retail, FMCG and Technology sectors. Connected TV is now the dominant device for video inventory expenditure, increasing to 38% from 31% for the September quarter, while desktop (34%) and mobile (28%) expenditure both slightly decreased.
Programmatic trading continued to increase, with content publishers reporting that 36% of all general display advertising inventory was sold programmatically in the September quarter. By contrast, agency direct buys, via insertion order, which is the dominant buying method for general display advertising, reduced to 47% of inventory. Within video inventory, some 49% was bought programmatically versus 46% via agency buys.
The full report is available for IAB Australia members.
The report compiled by PwC, solely for the use of the IAB, presents an unaudited aggregation of data provided by members of the IAB as well as estimates developed from publicly available information and other sources.
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About the Interactive Advertising Bureau
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Limited www.iabaustralia.com.au is the peak trade association for online advertising in Australia. As one of over 43 IAB offices globally and with a rapidly growing membership, the role of the IAB is to support sustainable and diverse investment in digital advertising across all platforms in Australia.
The IAB Industry Charter, which was announced in October 2018, details the organisation’s focus on helping marketers and agencies understand how digital advertising can deliver on their business objectives. Foundation elements of the IAB Industry Charter include a renewed focus on standards that promote trust, steps to reduce friction in the ad supply chain; and ultimately improve ad experiences for consumers, advertisers and publishers.
Beyond the IAB’s continued focus on content and ad measurement, the Charter outlines four additional areas of activity: digital ad effectiveness, data and data privacy; standards and guidelines; and improving the digital value chain.