The Australian online advertising market has delivered record revenues for the full financial year ending June 30th 2015, growing by 19.8 percent or $870.2m from financial year 2014 to reach $5.3bn.
The data, which comes from the latest IAB/PWC Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) shows that all online advertising segments experienced double digit growth in the financial year, with General Display and Classifieds leading the growth at 35 percent and 23 percent respectively.
Mobile advertising increased 84 percent to reach $1.1bn for the full financial year 2015, with Display advertising becoming the dominant advertising category for mobile in the June quarter of 2015. Device category share for the quarter ending June 2015 showed smart phone increasing its share of mobile advertising at 66 percent for the year and tablets at 34 percent, representing an increase in smart phones’ share of mobile advertising over time.
Video advertising grew 98 percent year on year, to reach $389m for the full financial year 2015. It now makes up 16 percent of all general display advertising expenditure, up from 14 percent the previous year. FMCG, retail and motor vehicles were the top three dominant industry categories for video advertising, representing 36 percent of the reported video display advertising market.
FMCG is now overly represented in video display compared to general display, with a 15 percent share, almost three times higher than its share in total general display.
In the three months ended 30 June 2015, total online advertising was $1.4 billion representing 21.9 percent growth year on year and an 11.5 percent increase from the prior quarter. General display increased at the fastest pace growing 22.6 percent in the June quarter 2015 compared to the March quarter and mobile increased its share of general display advertising. In the June quarter 2015 mobile display advertising contributed 37.0 percent of general display expenditure, a significant increase from its contribution of 22.5 percent in the June quarter 2014.
“Consistent year-on-year double digit growth over the past decade is testament to the rewarding relationship marketers are building with consumers through interactive media and shows the vital role interactive advertising now plays in the marketing mix,” said Alice Manners, CEO of IAB Australia.
“Both this Report and the latest CEASA data confirm interactive advertising’s position as the largest advertising segment in Australia.”
According to the latest CEASA analysis, for the six months ending June 2015, online advertising accounted for 41.3 percent of total advertising revenue, up from 36 percent last report.
In the twelve months ended 30 June 2015, there was a marked shift in expenditure across sectors with general display achieving its highest share of overall annual expenditure (33 percent) largely due to the rapid growth in mobile and video advertising. Classifieds share of online advertising expenditure remained reasonably steady year on year (19 percent) and the growth of search and directories softened (48 percent).
Of the general display advertiser categories, auto advertisers remain the largest spending category with a 17.4 percent share of the market for the financial year. Real estate continued to increase its share, representing 10.8 percent, while finance decreased its category share to 9.6 percent for the year. Within the classifieds category, real estate remains the largest, followed by the recruitment and automotive categories.
