Total digital advertising spend fell 0.8% to $3.426 billion in the March quarter, according to data released in the IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) prepared by PwC Australia.
The same three months in 2022 recorded an 18.5% increase.
However, search and directories remained resilient in the three months to March this year with 1.9% year on year growth to $1.576 billion.
General display fell 2.7% to $1.227 billion and classifieds expenditure 3.9% to $623 million.
Video advertising outperformed general display with 8% growth
Audio was the fastest growing category of general display advertising with a 13% increase to $51.9 million. Within audio, podcast increased its share of total audio expenditure by 2%, recording 20.7% growth.
Travel entered the top five general display industry categories for the first time since December 2019, joining retail, automotive, finance and entertainment.
Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia, said it is no surprise that ad spend is back slightly on bumper levels in early 2022 with marketers taking a cautious approach.
However, digital investment and digital media consumption continues to outperform the rest of the media market.
"It is a delight to see the travel category share of the general display market the highest since prior to COVID, with marketing for domestic and international flights and destinations targeting Australians who are excited to hit the road again," said Le Roy.
The share of content publishers inventory bought via an agency insertion order continued to increase reaching 48% for the quarter, while inventory purchased direct dropped slightly to 14% and the balance of inventory was bought programmatically (guaranteed deals and RTB/PMP).
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