Online advertising expenditure has increased 9.3% year-on-year according to data released today in the IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) prepared by PwC Australia. Total advertising expenditure for the quarter ended 31st March 2024 reached $3.746bn despite a 4.2% softening in spend from the preceding quarter, in line with seasonal trends.
Compared to the quarter ending March 2023, Search and directories experienced 9.3% year on year growth, reaching $1.724bn. General display advertising reported a 14.8% increase ($1.410bn) driven by social, audio and video, while classifieds expenditure dropped 1.8% year on year ($612m).
Video and audio advertising both delivered double digit growth year-on-year, with video expenditure increasing 21% to reach $944.9m and audio expenditure increasing 26% to reach $65.6m. Standard display (a subset of general display for traditional display banner formats) dropped back 6% and now represents just 9% of the general display market.
When compared to the preceding quarter (December 2023), all general display advertising categories including video, native, standard display and audio saw a decline in advertising expenditure spend in line with previously experienced seasonal trends.
Travel and finance remained in the top five general display industry categories despite decreases in share against the March 2023 quarter, joining retail, automotive and health & beauty, each of which experienced increased market share. FMCG and home products showed a preference towards video advertising for the quarter.
Gai Le Roy CEO of IAB Australia commented: “Search, social video and audio have been the star performers, helping bolster the traditionally slower first quarter results. The report suggests that many marketers are focused on short term sales targets with the continued economic downturn and lack of consumer confidence. However, it is encouraging to see continued investment in digital advertising, and we encourage marketers, where possible, to ensure that they are diversifying their investment to take advantage of the media multiplier effect.”
The share of content publishers inventory bought via an agency insertion order increased again reaching 25% for the quarter, while inventory purchased direct increased to 18% and the balance of inventory bought programmatically (guaranteed deals and RTB/PMP) decreased slightly.
/Ends
About the Interactive Advertising Bureau
As an independent industry association with more than 170 members in Australia and nearly 9,000 globally spanning media owners, publishers, technology companies, agencies, and advertisers, IAB works to align industry stakeholders to develop solutions for the issues faced by the market and develop standards that are integral to the operation of digital advertising.
As one of 47 IAB offices globally, the role of the IAB is to support sustainable and diverse investment in digital advertising across all platforms in Australia as well as demonstrating to marketers and agencies the many ways digital advertising can deliver on business objectives.