UK advertising on the internet and mobile phones rose 12.6 per cent year on year to £2.59bn in the first half of 2012, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.
Display advertising across both sectors was said to be up 10.6 per cent to £590.9m, digital video advertising rose 43 per cent to £69.8m and social media banner ads rose 36 per cent to £134.2m.
Paid-for search marketing, a category dominate in the UK by Google, was said to be up 15.9 per cent to £1.527m for the period.
Classified advertising grew 7.2 per cent to £427.1m.
With 58 per cent of the UK population now said to own smartphones according to the IAB, mobile advertising has continued a "meteoric rise". It was said to be up 132 per cent to £181.5m.
The IAB estimates that advertising spend on tablets was at least £2.4m in the first half of the year
Tim Elkington, director of research and strategy at the Internet Advertising Bureau, said: “Almost 60 per cent of people in the UK have a smartphone, average UK household broadband speed is now 9MB and social media accounts for one fifth of all internet time. As digital technology and services evolve to make consumers’ lives easier, more connected and more fun, it’s no surprise that advertisers are coming to the digital party with bigger budgets, despite the challenging economic times elsewhere.
“However, there’s still plenty of room for growth. Take mobile; 60 per cnet of the UK’s 100 biggest advertisers still don’t have a mobile-optimised website yet consumers spend almost 70 per centlonger on sites which are. If all advertisers get wise to this, we’re likely to see significant mobile growth for some time yet.”
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