Digital Just Keeps on Growing ' Are You Taking Advantage?

According to the latest advertising expenditure report from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB), conducted by PWC, advertising on the internet and mobile phones increased by 12.6% to a record six-month high of £2.59 billion in the first half of 2012' up by over £294 million from £2.30 billion in the first half of 2011.

Here are some of the stand-out numbers:

• UK digital ad spend grows 12.6% to £2.6 billion in first half of 2012.
• Video ad spend is up 43% to £69.8m.
• Mobile ad spend is up 132% to £181.5 million.
• Mobile Search grew like-for-like by 152% to £131.6 million ' accounting for 72% of mobile ad spend.
• Banner use or Display advertising in social media is up 36% to £134.2m
• FMCG joins Finance as biggest digital display advertiser ' the two sectors combined now account for nearly one third of the UK digital ad spend.
• Paid for search marketing such as pay per click, increased 15.9% to 1,527 million from £1,318 million.

Yes, we are all aware of how economically the UK (and it seems the rest of the developed world) is still on its knees, however these figures show that people and businesses are investing in growth by leveraging technology and the growing consumer demand for social and commercial interaction with businesses on line.

The dramatic growth in advertising spend could not and would not occur if the demand and the results were not there. Big businesses are capitalising on these trends and that is reflected by the fact that the FMCG has joined Finance as the big spending sectors. As a small business owner you may be thinking this is not relevant to you in the slightest, but in fact it is.

If large FMCG and Financial Services firms are investing heavily in advertising online it means it is working. Not just working, but providing results and a healthy return on investment or else they wouldn't be doing it at all.

In the past businesses may have shied away from online advertising, but with increasing reach and more and more analytics available to test and track results there is no excuse why businesses shouldn't be making the most of a route to market that has still got a long way to grow.

Digital advertising such as display, mobile and search, keeps on growing and as the consumer becomes increasingly more connected it is likely to keep on growing, becoming more and more profitable for those that are taking advantage of this massive trend in consumer behaviour.