£4.8bn advertising boost

 AN INCREASE OF 14.4pc has given online advertising a boost in 2011. Video ads and have helped grow and push online display advertising passing the £1bn barrier for the first time. The grand figure now stands at £4.8bn in 2011.

Tim Elkington, director of research and strategy at the IAB, said: “Online and mobile advertising have experienced staggering growth since this study began in 1997. Advertisers increasingly recognise the central role that online plays in their marketing campaigns.”

The IAB said 39.7m people were on average going online each month in Britain, while 27pc of all the time spent online was spent on social networks.

The Telegraph reported that the finance sector was the biggest for spending on display advertising, ahead of fast-moving consumer goods then retail, followed by entertainment and the media, then technology.

It added that Video advertising continued to grow and accounts for 10pc of all online display advertising. Expenditure on online video doubled to £109m, from £54m in 2010, and has grown more than eight-fold since 2008, when video spend was £12m.

Advertising on mobile devices rose by 157pc in 2011, to a new high of £203m, as a result of increased smartphone ownership, the proliferation of touchscreen technology, 3G, and soaring tablet sales.