The Australian internet advertising market has continued its growth, reaching $4.2bn for the March 2025 quarter, an increase of 11.6 per cent year on year. The data which comes from the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report (IARR) released June 2, also showed that the local market experienced a much softer than usual seasonal decline in spend from the December quarter at -1.8 per cent in 2025 versus -4.2 per cent in 2024.
The report found that the strong advertising spend growth this quarter was fuelled by video advertising which was up 23.3 per cent year on year to reach $1.165bn and now represents 28 per cent of investment dollars. Search revenue increased 10 per cent year on year to reach $1.896bn, while Classified listing revenue increased 7.8 per cent to reach $660m driven primarily by the real estate category.
Audio investment also saw an increase in spend of 18 per cent year on year to reach $77.3m in spend, while display advertising (excluding video) softened by 0.9per cent year on year to reach $461m. Social media, which has revenue allocated within both video and display, had 17 per cent share of the market.
“The Australian digital advertising market again saw double digit growth year on year in the March quarter, with strong increases in video, search, social and audio,” commented Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia.
“While we are seeing solid top-line growth there is still some nervousness in the market around long term planning and brand investment which should be tempered by any future interest rate cuts in coming months.”
Retail and auto remained the top two display advertiser investment categories at 17.1 per cent and 12.9 per cent respectively, though their share declined marginally year on year. The finance, FMCG and insurance categories all saw significant jumps in share.
Desktop advertising surged in its share of content publishers and local broadcasters’ video inventory expenditure this quarter, increasing from 32 per cent in the December quarter to reach 42 per cent of investment in the March quarter, however CTV investment remains the largest component of this part of the market at 46 per cent share.
