The European online ad market grew 20 per cent across 19 countries in 2008, to reach a value of €12.9 billion (£10.9bn), comparing favourably to the US market, which only grew 10.6 per cent to reach $23.4 bn (£14bn), according to the IAB Europe and PricewaterhouseCoopers annual ad spend report for 2008.
In the most mature European markets, growth rates were lower than in previous years. Spain saw the strongest growth, increasing 26 per cent, while Denmark and Norway expanded 22 per cent year-on-year. The UK, Germany and Sweden grew 19 per cent, Italy 20 per cent and France 18.5 per cent over the same period.
One of Europe's early adopters of online advertising, The Netherlands, saw the smallest growth rate, increasing only 9 per cent year-on-year.
Good news came further east, with Slovenia growing 77 per cent year-on-year to reach a value of €19.6 million (£16.7m), while Poland recorded a 60 per cent growth rate to reach €253m (£215.7m).
However, the IAB US has released its Q1 report for 2009, showing a 5 per cent decline in ad spend compared to the same period last year, indicating cutbacks have yet to filter through to the European market.
The time taken to collate results from across Europe means that the US produces a more up-to-date assesment of the digital market.
The IAB Europe report, meanwhile, shows that search benefited from an increased marketer focus on ROI as brands began to grapple with the effects of the credit crunch. Search spend grew 26 per cent across the continent, and was worth €5.6bn (£4.7bn) - accounting for 43 per cent of online ad expenditure.
Search was followed by display, which grew 15.1 per cent, 29 per cent of adspend, to reach a value of €3.8 bn (£3.2bn).
Alain Heureux, president and chief executive of IAB Europe said the increases in search and classifieds are symptomatic of the financial climate, as the two formats are the most accountable in online advertising.
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