IAB Ireland report: H1 2016 digital ad spend - mobile ad spend overtakes desktop for the first time

Reflecting growth of 67% year on year, Mobile Adspend reaches €108.5m in H1 2016 (Jan to June)

Total Digital Adspend is now at a record high of €216m for a half year, with 33% growth year-on-year

The H1 2016 IAB PwC Online Adspend Study sees growth of 33% in the Irish digital advertising market with a total digital spend of €216m - this breaks down into €108.5m on the mobile platform and €107.5m on desktop. As always, advertising spend follows media consumption and Mobile Adspend is now catching up with consumer online engagement via smartphones. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016 records that 80% of Irish adults are now using smartphones with Ireland ranking 3rd in smartphone usage in this study of 26 countries.

Digital Advertising Formats (Desktop and Mobile)

Display advertising had the highest growth rate among digital ad formats at 59% representing €94m in the first half of the year. Display now represents 43% of total digital spend.

Paid-for-Search advertising has grown by 21% year-on-year and remains the dominant digital format with a 50% share of total Digital Adspend at €108m.

Classified advertising online holds a 7% share of total online Adspend at €14m in the first half of 2016.

Within the Display category, Social Media Display saw a spend of €50.8m up from €22m in H1 2015 , Video advertising grew by 85% from €11m in H1 2015 to €20m in H1 2016 reflecting brand advertisers’ strong commitment to this format. Native Advertising cross platform at €36.6 m is now 39% of total digital display in H1 2016.

Finance & Retail are the top advertiser categories in Display Spend

Finance is the top spending category in display advertising across digital platforms with a share of 15% of display spend. Retail is in second position with a 13% share.

Irish Mobile Adspend now represents €1 in every €2 of total Digital Adspend

Reflecting the global growth trend in Mobile Adspend, the Irish market experienced 67% growth in mobile advertising to €108.5m in the first half of the year.

Mobile Search accounts for 58% of total mobile spend with Mobile Display advertising representing a 42% share.

Key Drivers for Digital Adspend growth:

1) Growth of digital consumption

80% of Irish adults now use smartphones * up from 75% in 2015.

2) Digital is the top focus for marketing spend for Irish marketers in 2016

Digital was ranked the top area for marketing spend for Irish marketers in 2016 by 73% of the respondents to the Alternatives/ MII Sentiment Survey 2016. 28% of Irish marketers will dedicate between 21% and 50% of their marketing budget to digital in 2016.

3) 61% of Irish adults spend more than 4 hours a week consuming video streaming content **

Video advertising delivers hard to reach audiences, 59% of 15-24 year olds watch more VOD than TV.***

Video advertising drives brand growth - following seeing a video ad 24% of adults visit the brand’s website following seeing a video ad, 20% search online for the brand.***

Further growth predicted for Online Adspend:

PwC predicts 16.5% growth per year (CAGR) in Irish Digital Adspend during the period 2016 – 2020 (PwC 2015 Global Entertainment and Media Outlook).

Media agency predictions: Carat predicts a 25% growth rate for digital in the full year 2016 with Core Media forecasting a growth of 23%.

Commenting on the study results Suzanne McElligott, CEO, IAB Ireland, said: ”Smartphones are increasingly being used as the main online device for users to access information, transact business, consume news and entertainment. It is very exciting to see Irish advertisers really embrace this platform which is the first device consumers reach for in the morning and is with them wherever they go throughout the day”

Commenting on the survey results, Richard Phelan, Strategy Manager, PwC, added: “One of the key drivers of mobile Adspend this year has been the continued growth in Display advertising. It accounted for the majority of mobile growth and now represents over 40% of mobile spend, up from 30% last year”

*Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016

**Virgin Media Digital Insights Report 2016

***IAB Ireland report : The Power of VOD 3, conducted by Nielsen June 2016

For further information please contact: Maeve O’Meara, Marketing Manager, IAB Ireland, 086 852 2291, maeve@iabireland.ie

Notes to Editors

Background to the study

• The IAB has been working with PwC since 1997 to survey the value of Online Adspend in Europe and North America.
• 28 leading publishers participated in the study, many of whom represent multiple websites. Other participants include sales houses and advertising networks.
• Participating publishers were selected on the basis of traffic data and market knowledge. We estimate that our study accounts for 90% of Online Adspend. Reported figures are not adjusted to account for other organisations that have not participated. Participation is on a voluntary basis.
• Total advertising revenue is reported on a gross basis (i.e. including agency commission).
• Adspend revenue is drawn up on the basis of actual figures provided by study participants. All data was provided to PwC on a confidential basis. The data is prepared by PwC based on the figures provided by participants, which have not been verified or audited by PwC.
• Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn do not break out their earnings from Irish advertisers. Instead PwC in conjunction with IAB created an independent estimate of their revenue from Irish advertisers, by extrapolating from spend data provided directly by a representative sample of their clients.
• RTÉ do not submit data to the IAB PwC Adspend Study, RTÉ’s digital Adspend as reported in RTÉ’s most recent annual report is included in the study.

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