U.K. marketers pour money into digital media.

Navigation: Main page

Author: Hall, Emma

Dateline: LONDON

U.K. marketers continue to shift budgets into digital media and away from traditional media. Internet advertising was the only U.K. media to increase budgets in the first quarter of 2006, according to the latest Bellwether Report by the U.K.'s agency association, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. Traditional media budgets were cut for the sixth quarter in a row and have slipped from 37% of total marketing expenditure in 2004 to 33% in 2005. Internet advertising makes up 4% of total U.K. spend. TV and print advertising is expected to pick up strongly-if temporarily-during the World Cup this summer.

David Pattison, chief executive of PHD and president of the IPA, said, "The trend continues of spend moving away from the traditional media areas towards the consumer engagement media of direct marketing and the Internet. Whilst overall growth is predicted for 2006, this growth is at its lowest level since 2002. Consumer spending is slowing and this directly affects our industry."

~~~~~~~~

By Emma Hall

Edited by Laurel Wentz