The Australian internet advertising market grew 11.6% to $4.2 billion in the March quarter, according to the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report (IARR) released today.
The report also showed the local market experienced a much softer than usual seasonal decline in spend from the December quarter at -1.8% in 2025 versus -4.2% in 2024.
Growth in the March quarter was fuelled by video advertising which was up 23.3% year on year to $1.165 billion and now represents 28% of investment dollars.
Search revenue increased 10% to $1.896 billion, while Classified listing revenue increased 7.8% to $660 million, driven primarily by the real estate category.
Audio investment increased 18% to $77.3 million, while display advertising (excluding video) dropped 0.9% to $461 million.
Social media, which has revenue allocated within both video and display, had 17% share of the market.
“The Australian digital advertising market again saw double digit growth year on year in the March quarter, with strong increases in video, search, social and audio,” said Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia.
“While we are seeing solid top line growth there is still some nervousness in the market around long term planning and brand investment which should be tempered by any future interest rate cuts in coming months.”
Retail (17.1%) and auto (12.9%) remained the top two display advertiser investment categories, though their share declined marginally year on year. The finance, FMCG and insurance categories all saw significant jumps in share.
Desktop advertising surged in its share of content publishers and local broadcasters’ video inventory expenditure this quarter, increasing from 32% in the December quarter to 42% of investment in the March quarter.
However, CTV investment remains the largest component of this part of the market at 46% share.
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