Following several years of double digit growth, digital advertising spend in the Irish market rose by a modest 4% last year according to the latest IAB PwC Online Adspend report for 2022.
According to the report, advertisers spent a total of €861m on digital platforms with display advertising accounting for €513m, a 3% increase on the 2021 figure. This was driven by the growth in video advertising (7%) and non-social display (8%).
After several years of dramatic growth for social display, growth last year was almost flat at €376m, a 0.2% increase.
Elsewhere, search advertising grew by 4% with an adspend of €300m and a share of 35% of the total Irish digital advertising market.
Digital audio, meanwhile, continues to grow strongly with a 33% growth recorded in 2022 and a spend of €16m.
According to Suzanne McElligott, CEO, IAB Ireland, 2022 was a challenging year for the Irish and global economy with consumers and businesses faced with rising costs and increasing interest rates.
“Despite this difficult backdrop and the impact of increased regulation the Irish digital ad market continued to grow in 2022 to a high of €861m and 4% growth year on year,” she says.
Meanwhile, Finn O’Loughlin, strategy consulting director, PwC, adds: “While Social Display experienced almost flat growth in 2022 (0.2% YoY), it continues to be the dominant format within Display and at €376m holds a share of 73% of total Display adspend. Non Social Display grew by 8% (YoY) reflecting a positive performance for publishers with Video also achieving strong growth of 7% in 2022.”
“Following the very strong growth of digital advertising recorded annually by PwC “Digital has now entered a more mature phase which is reflected in the slower pace of adspend growth in 2022,” says Karen Preston, chair of IAB Ireland’s board and chief commercial officer, Mediahuis.
“However further growth is predicted for 2023 with our adspend participants predicting an average 7% growth in the year ahead with Video and Digital Audio anticipated to be key growth drivers,” she adds.
