The revision was smaller than the past two quarters, with 9.3% of companies saying that they had increased their budget for advertising on the internet, compared with 18.3% in the first quarter of the year.
The findings, part of the Bellwether Report compiled by the IPA and NTC Research, show that internet-related marketing has outperformed all other categories, including direct marketing and traditional advertising, for five quarters running.
There is further good news for the internet advertising industry, with the survey showing that the number of companies allocating no spend to the internet fell to a five-quarter low. A higher proportion than ever are now allocating over 10% of their total marketing budget to online spend, with 7.4% of companies now in that category.
The report's author, Chris Williamson, said: "Marketing managers are treading cautiously. While previous reports had shown that budgets for 2003 had generally been set higher than 2002, the failure of sales and revenue growth to pick up sharply in the wake of the Iraq war has meant that this budgeted spend has already been adjusted down somewhat."
The Bellwether report defines internet spend as e-commerce activity including business-to-business and business-to-consumer websites, email marketing and online brochures, as well as advertising and sponsorship.
The report is published by NTC Research on behalf of the IPA, featuring data from a panel of more than 200 marketing professionals in the UK, representing all key business sectors. Copies of the full report are available .
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