The latest report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB Europe) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) details online ad spend for 19 European markets.
The survey, covering the year to 31 December 2008, revealed that last year, the European online ad market totalled €12.9bn, with a year-on-year expansion rate of 20% from 2007, while in the US, online advertising spend grew 10.6% to €16.6bn from 2007.
Mature online ad markets such as the Netherlands, France, UK, Germany, Sweden and Italy posted slow growth of 9% 18.5%, 19%, 19%, 19% and 20% respectively, while smaller markets such as Slovenia, Poland and Austria saw the biggest rises of 77%, 60% and 45% respectively.
Search remains the leading online ad format in Europe with the strongest year-on-year increase rate of 26%, accounting for 43% of online ad expenditure in the 19 countries measured, with a value of €5.6bn. Classifieds are next in terms of year-on-year expansion rates at 17.4%, 26% share of ad spend and a market value of €3.8bn.
Eva Berg-Winters, senior manager at PwC, said 2009 was expected to be a difficult year for online advertising.
She added: "However, online continues to outperform other media and to increase its ad market share. The post-downturn era should therefore see another growth spurt for online."
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