Tablet advertising exceeds smartphone spend in March quarter: IAB

Tablet-based advertising is the rising star of mobile advertising and exceeded smartphone revenue in the March quarter 2013, new research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) claims.

According to the trade association’s latest Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER), Australian spend across smartphones and tablets nearly tripled over the past year to $36.6 million in the March quarter, up from $13m 12 months ago.

Tablet-based advertising proved hugely popular and leapfrogged smartphone advertising share for the first time since mobile advertising data was recorded, representing 58 per cent of all mobile spend. This was up from 41 per cent the previous quarter.

Video advertising also recorded strong growth, IAB said, hitting $27.6m for the quarter, an increase of 46.8 per cent year-on-year.

In total, online advertising expenditure was valued at $910.8m for the March quarter, a 15 per cent increase year-on-year. The retail sector experienced 42.7 per cent year-on-year growth, making it one of the largest and fastest growing advertiser industry categories this year across display advertising. Motor vehicles and real estate also gained share during the quarter, which the association attributed to greater consumer activity in those industries.

In addition, IAB found general display and search and directories were both up 17 per cent in a year-by-year comparison, while classified advertising rose by eight per cent over the same period. Search and directories accounted for 55 per cent of all expenditure in the March quarter, or $497.15m, followed by general display advertising (26 per cent), and classifieds (19 per cent).

“The dual factors of continued growth in consumer devices and expansion of creative opportunities for marketers has underpinned significant growth in both mobile and video advertising,” IAB’s director of research, Gai Le Roy, said. “We expect to see this growth continue with publishers, agencies and advertisers currently investing heavily in resources to manage these growing sections.”

The research was compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers and is the fourth in the series to use data from industry participants as well as estimates for Google display, video and mobile advertising plus Facebook display and mobile advertising.

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