The digital advertising market in Ireland continued to power ahead in the first half of 2014, clocking up a 40% increase according to the latest IAB PwC Online Adspend Study.
According to the study, the total amount invested in digital advertising rose to €130m in H1 with yet another strong performance in mobile advertising which now accounts for 29% of total spend.
According to the figures, display advertising grew by 34% to €45m and now represents 35% of total digital spend. Spend on VOD advertising grew by 75% to €7m reflecting brand advertiser’s strong commitment to this format. Social media display, meanwhile, rose by 67% year-on-year to €10.7m.
Elsewhere, paid-for-search with the likes of Google, MSN and Yahoo! grew by 58% and remains the dominant digital format with a 54% share of total online adspend at €71m. Classified advertising, meanwhile, continued to perform strongly in 2014 with an 11% share of the overall market at €14m.
The IAB PwC Adspend report also shows that the financial services sector was the biggest investor in desktop display advertising, followed by FMCG, retail and telecommunications.
Of the €37m that was spent on mobile, search accounts for 77% of the total with display display accounting for 23%.
“2014 marks a paradigm shift in advertising in the Irish market with a record 40% growth in digital adspend,” says Suzanne McElligott, CEO of IAB Ireland.
“This dramatic growth mirrors the growing appetite of the Irish consumer for digital devices, digital media and in particular digital video across all screens – big and small. Almost €1 in every €3 of digital adspend is now on mobile advertising and with the anticipated further growth in mobile usage and content mobile advertising must now be the first screen Irish advertisers engage to communicate with their consumers” she added.
