Online advertising expenditure has increased 12.1 per cent year-on-year according to data released in the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report prepared by PwC Australia. Video advertising overtook audio as the fastest-growing general display sub-sector this quarter, thanks to the Summer Olympics spend.
Total advertising expenditure for the quarter ended on 30 September 2024 and was $4.2bn, with growth in video, classifieds, search & directories and audio.
Boosted by Olympics-related activity, the video market enjoyed a 19.5 per cent increase year on year, reaching $1.15bn. Classified expenditure increased by 13.8 per cent to reach $0.7bn, while search advertising increased by 9.8 per cent to reach $1.8bn and represents 43c of each dollar of internet expenditure. Audio advertising increased by 16.2 per cent to reach $79m, while display advertising increased just 2.5 per cent year on year to reach $0.5bn.
“While the advertising investment market is still mixed, the strength of an audience engagement driver like the Olympics can have a major impact on ad spend and for the September quarter this was a key contributor to the year-on-year growth for video inventory. Search and social continues to experience solid growth, putting the calendar year for the digital ad market on track for low double-digit growth,” said Gai Le Roy CEO of IAB Australia.
Desktop devices increased its share of the video advertising expenditure to 45 per cent, while connected TV spend slipped back to 44 per centand mobile video share of spend also decreased to 11 per cent. Video displayed on social platforms now represents one-third of total video expenditure. Within audio internet advertising, podcast advertising had a strong quarter, increasing its share of total internet audio advertising to 40 per cent, representing a 26.5 per cent increase year on year.
Retail maintained its hold on general display advertising expenditure, with travel, finance and entertainment also seeing increased spend. Automotive stayed in the top five general display industry categories despite a decrease in its share against the September 2023 quarter. The telecommunications experienced the largest increase in share this quarter following the launch of new mobile devices, while home products, services and utilities showed the strongest preference towards video advertising.
