Advertising more resilient in online sector

Recovery in marketing budgets mostly being spent online, says survey

Online marketing budgets are recovering

The online channel is likely to be the first to see advertising spend recover as marketing budgets begin to grow again in 2010, according to a report out today.

The latest survey published by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising found that marketing spend fell for the ninth quarter running in Q4 2009, but with the rate of budget trimming the slowest since Q1 2008.

However, internet advertising budgets were revised up for the second quarter running compared with direct marketing and traditional media channels, which were revised down, though at a slower rate than in previous quarters.

Internet advertising is seen as cost effective because return on investment can be measured accurately and campaigns can be operated on a short-term, flexible basis.

Rory Sutherland, president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, said: "This latest report is particularly good news for the direct and digital marketing industries, which seem to be leading the recovery."

A report last year from the Internet Advertising Bureau found that online advertising had been less affected by the downturn than other sectors.

The report found that search adverts – paying for a link to appear when a user searches for a particular item – formed the largest part of the market with 47 per cent, while display adverts were responsible for 22 per cent, and classifieds 10 per cent.