Online Ad Spend Achieves Double-Digit Share in Two Markets, Surpasses Outdoor Globally

Online Ad Spend Achieves Double-Digit Share in Two Markets, Surpasses Outdoor Globally

The internet is about to overtake outdoor as the fifth-largest global ad medium this year, is closing in on fourth-place radio, and has achieved a first in two countries, according to the quarterly revision of ZenithOptimedia's global ad tracking study.

Internet ad spend is forecast by Publicis Groupe's ZenithOptimedia to achieve - for the first time in any major market - double-digit market share this year in two countries, the U.K. (12.9 percent) and Sweden (10.5 percent), writes MediaPost. Moreover, the agency now forecasts an 84 percent increase in internet ad spend from 2005 to 2008 - an upward revision from last quarter's 76 percent estimate.

Despite such growth, only in 2011 is internet ad spend forecast to achieve double-digit share globally. Online ad spend share worldwide is anticipated to reach 5.7 percent in 2006 and 7.3 percent in 2008, when in several other countries online ad spend market share is expected to reach double-digits, including Australia, Israel, Japan, Norway, South Korea and Taiwan.

Overall, ZenithOptimedia expects global ad spend to grow 6.0 percent this year (5.2 percent in the U.S.), 5.4 percent in 2007 (U.S., 4.2 percent) and 5.9 percent in 2008 (U.S., 4.3 percent).