Online ad spend in Australia hit $4 billion in 2013, exceeding free-to-air TV spend for the first time, according to the IAB.
Digital spend grew 19.3% year on year, driven by digital display advertising, which saw an 28.4% uplift breaking past $1 billion for the first time. Automotive, finance and retail brands were the biggest spenders and accounted for 41.3% of general display spend in the final quarter of the year.
All segments of online advertising reported double digit growth in the year to 31 December. Search and directories grew 18.1% to $2.1 billion and classifieds grew 10.5% year on year to $743m.
The Online Advertising Expenditure Report, carried out by PwC, found free-to-air TV revenue reached $3.87 billion in the same period.
Mobile advertising spend reached $349.2 million for the year – a 305% rise year on year. In the final quarter mobile accounted for 14.3% of total online spend, up from 11% in the previous quarter.
Video advertising accounted for 15% of display revenue in the final quarter, 72% higher than in 2012.
Gai Le Roy, IAB Australia’s director of research, said: “Digital advertising continues to evolve in terms of offerings and its ability to demonstrate strong ROI for marketers so we expect to see the growth rates sustained for some time to come."
Retailer brands increased their share of total spend to 10.5% up from 8.8% in the last three months of the year – the strongest quarter for the retail segment since data collection began in 2008.
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