Broadband penetration is up 14% in Western Europe.

survey based on 7,036 random telephone interviews with over 1,000 respondents each in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Norway, and 500 respondents each in Belgium and the Netherlands. Interviews were conducted in September '06.

emarketer.com

Online advertising is racing ahead in Britain

Online advertising is racing ahead in Britain, growing at a roughly 40 percent annual rate, and is expected to account for as much as 14 percent of overall ad spending this year, according to media buying agencies. That is the highest level in the world, and more than double the percentage in the United States.
Search accounts for 56 percent of Internet ad spending in Britain, compared with 42.5 percent in the United States, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.

In Britain, analysts predict that it will not be long until Internet advertising catches up with TV advertising. Group M, for instance, says the Internet could account for 25 percent of British ad spending by 2010. That would place it ahead of television, which accounts for just more than 20 percent now.

Hardest hit has been Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster, ITV. Analysts at Numis Securities estimate that ITV’s advertising revenue will fall 13 percent for 2006. Weakened by its loss of advertising, ITV has become a takeover target.

Online ad revenues set to soar, says Zenith

By Saeed Shah
Published: 05 December 2006
The internet will take more than one-fifth of all UK advertising revenues by 2009, according to a leading media forecaster.

ZenithOptimedia predicted that advertisers' spending on the internet will jump from £1.6bn in 2006 - level with national newspapers - to £3.0bn in 2009, not far behind television which is forecast to take £3.4bn that year.

In the UK, online advertising revenues jumped 40 per cent this year, as it took a double-digit share of ad sales for the first time. By comparison, all other media sectors - TV, radio, newspapers - except outdoor, saw advertising income shrink in 2006.

The UK has the highest proportion of advertising going to the internet of any country in the world, even ahead of Scandinavia, with 13.5 per cent of ad revenues in this country going to the internet this year - compared with 7.1 per cent in the US. In 2009, Zenith reckons 21.5 per cent of UK advertising will be online, again ahead of the rest of the world.

Jonathan Barnard, head of publications at Zenith, said the internet was taking classified advertising away from newspapers and magazines. He said the greater sophistication of the consumers' internet access - advertisers are now able to produce online videos that are similar to television ads - meant that display ad revenues would face increasing competition from the web.

However, he added that the largest category of online advertising - based around web searches - is a new phenomenon and does not necessarily suck revenues from other types of media.

Mr Barnard said the three markets where the internet will account for more than 10 per cent of advertising this year - the UK, Sweden and Norway - all had strong public sector broadcasters.

"We think in the UK, the strength of the BBC in television and radio forces advertisers to look elsewhere," he said.

The internet will take more than one-fifth of all UK advertising revenues by 2009, according to a leading media forecaster.

ZenithOptimedia predicted that advertisers' spending on the internet will jump from £1.6bn in 2006 - level with national newspapers - to £3.0bn in 2009, not far behind television which is forecast to take £3.4bn that year.

In the UK, online advertising revenues jumped 40 per cent this year, as it took a double-digit share of ad sales for the first time. By comparison, all other media sectors - TV, radio, newspapers - except outdoor, saw advertising income shrink in 2006.

The UK has the highest proportion of advertising going to the internet of any country in the world, even ahead of Scandinavia, with 13.5 per cent of ad revenues in this country going to the internet this year - compared with 7.1 per cent in the US. In 2009, Zenith reckons 21.5 per cent of UK advertising will be online, again ahead of the rest of the world.

Jonathan Barnard, head of publications at Zenith, said the internet was taking classified advertising away from newspapers and magazines. He said the greater sophistication of the consumers' internet access - advertisers are now able to produce online videos that are similar to television ads - meant that display ad revenues would face increasing competition from the web.

However, he added that the largest category of online advertising - based around web searches - is a new phenomenon and does not necessarily suck revenues from other types of media.

Mr Barnard said the three markets where the internet will account for more than 10 per cent of advertising this year - the UK, Sweden and Norway - all had strong public sector broadcasters.

"We think in the UK, the strength of the BBC in television and radio forces advertisers to look elsewhere," he said.