Suzanne McElligott, CEO of IAB Ireland
Investment in digital advertising rose by 34% last year to €263m according to the latest IAB PwC Online Adspend Study.
According to IAB Ireland, mobile adspend recorded the largest increase in spend during the year, rising by 132% to €79m while social media increased by 108% o €28.5m with VoD advertising rising by 63% to €14.3m.
Display advertising, meanwhile, grew by 35% to €99m or 38% of total digital spend. Drivers of display adspend growth include the strong performance of social media display with a spend of €28.5m in 2014 (+108% on 2013) and a 63% growth in spend on digital video to €14.3m in 2015.
Paid-for-Search advertising also chalked up good growth according to the study, rising 43% year-on-year and remains the dominant digital format with a 52% share of total online adspend at €137m.
Classified advertising online continued to perform strongly in 2014, holding a 10% share of online adspend at €27m.
According to the survey, FMCG is the top spending category in cross platform display spend with a category share of 16% of display spend. Retail holds second position at 14%, followed by Finance with a 13% share.
Commenting on the latest figures, Suzanne McElligott, CEO of IAB Ireland, said: ” The big takeout from our 2014 adspend study is the dramatic growth of 132% for mobile, we can see that the key digital formats of display and search are increasingly embracing the mobile platform. Brand spend on digital is now at the centre of media planning with major advertisers such as P&G now allocating over 30% of their media spend to digital. Looking at Display adspend specifically, it is interesting to note the growth in cross platform digital sponsorship which was up by 58%,” she added.
