Online advertising spend increased 9.3% to $3.746 billion in the March quarter, according to data released in the IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) prepared by PwC Australia.
The number reversed a 4.2% softening in spend from the preceding quarter, in line with seasonal trends.
Compared to the March quarter in 2023, search and directories was up 9.3% to $1.724 billion.
General display advertising reported a 14.8% increase to $1.410 billion driven by social, audio and video. Classifieds expenditure dropped 1.8% to $612 million.
Video and audio advertising both delivered double digit growth year-on-year, with video expenditure increasing 21% to reach $944.9m and audio expenditure increasing 26% to reach $65.6m. Standard display (a subset of general display for traditional display banner formats) dropped back 6% and now represents just 9% of the general display market.
“Search, social video and audio have been the star performers, helping bolster the traditionally slower first quarter results," said Gai Le Roy CEO of IAB Australia.
"The report suggests that many marketers are focused on short term sales targets with the continued economic downturn and lack of consumer confidence.
"However, it is encouraging to see continued investment in digital advertising, and we encourage marketers, where possible, to ensure that they are diversifying their investment to take advantage of the media multiplier effect."
The share of content publishers inventory bought via an agency order increased again reaching 25% for the quarte.
Inventory purchased direct increased to 18% and the balance of inventory bought programmatically (guaranteed deals and RTB/PMP) fell slightly.
When compared to the December 2023 quarter, all general display advertising categories including video, native, standard display and audio saw a decline in advertising expenditure spend in line with previously experienced seasonal trends.
Travel and finance remained in the top five general display industry categories despite decreases in share against the March 2023 quarter, joining retail, automotive and health & beauty, each of which experienced increased market share. FMCG and home products showed a preference towards video advertising for the quarter.
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