Online Advertising powers on but so does outdoor and cinema

Online advertising spending leapt over the £3bn level for the first time in the UK last year, according to new research, grabbing market share from other parts of the media such as newspapers, magazines and direct mail.

Ad spend across all media in the UK rose 4.2% to £19.4bn in 2007, according to the the Advertising Association and the World Advertising Research Centre.

The internet, cinema and the outdoor advertising sectors posted the biggest year-on-year growth, with online spending up a dramatic 39.5% - year on year - to just over £3bn. Online advertising, which was the fastest-growing sector, accounted for 16% of total UK ad spend last year.

Commentators have long maintained that advertisers are being drawn online from other areas of media such as print and direct mail. The figures seem to add weight to this hypothesis, showing that press advertising, which includes national, regional and magazine advertising, declined 1.6% year on year.

Press is, however, still the largest single sector in the UK, accounting for 40%, or £7.7bn, of advertising spending last year. Direct mail advertising, meanwhile, saw a 6.5% decline to £2.17bn last year.

The UK cinema advertising sector recorded 10.1% year-on-year growth, but the overall cinema market was worth just £207m, 1.1% of the UK's total advertising market. Outdoor advertising grew by 4.6% to £1.05bn, giving the sector a 5.5% share of UK ad spending, fuelled by the continuing digitisation of billboards and poster sites. The TV sector managed a modest 2.3% year-on-year gain to £4.67bn, accounting for 24% of all UK ad spend. (Source: Guardian Media)