Report: Australian digital advertising spend rebounds in Q3, 2020

The latest Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia digital advertising figures show ad spending is rebounding, with an 11.3 per cent increase between Q2 and Q3, 2020.

According to the latest quarterly IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report, digital advertising chalked up 11.3 per cent growth in the three months to 30 September 2020 to reach $2.26 billion. The report found all advertising categories to have achieved growth against Q2, which was hit by the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on advertising overall.

The largest share of spend in Q3 was search and directories, representing 45 per cent of all expenditure or $1 billion in spend over the quarter. This was followed by general display at 38 per cent and worth $871m, then classifieds (17 per cent and $386m). Year-on-year, general display was up 0.9 per cent, while search and directories and classified sectors were both down by -6.9 per cent and -11.5 per cent respectively.

IAB said all general display formats including video, standard display and infeed/native advertising, experienced double-digit growth at 11 per cent, 10 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Mobile represented two-thirds of general display advertising and 63 per cent of search and directories.

Video advertising was also seen to be shifting towards pre-pandemic results with CTV inventory rising the highest growth across digital screens.

“It’s been a challenging year, but the growth this quarter in terms of digital formats signals the industry is bouncing back,” commented IAG Australia CEO, Gai Le Roy. “We are now entering what is traditional considered the industry’s strongest quarter and we anticipate continuation of the growth through to the end of the year.”

In terms of sectors, IAB found retail reflected 10.3 per cent of Q3 2020 general display spend, up nearly a full per cent year-on-year, while automotive, which represented 14.1 per cent, was down from 22.4 per cent in Q3, 2019. Finance was another increased spender, up to 9.5 per cent of share in Q3, 2020, compared to 6.6 per cent in Q3, 2019.

According to IAB’s Q2, 2020 report, Australia’s online advertising revenue across the April – June quarter declined by 12 per cent year-on-year, a reflection of the COVBID-19 impact on marketing spend nationally. The biggest area to be hit was classifieds, down 22. 7 per cent over the period.

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