Online advertising spend increased 9.3% year-on-year to reach a total of $3.746 billion for the quarter ending 31 March 2024, despite a 4.2% softening in spend from the preceding quarter.
The IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER), prepared by PwC Australia, noted that compared to the quarter ending March 2023, search and directories experienced 9.3% year-on-year growth, reaching $1.724 billion.
General display advertising reported a 14.8% increase to $1.41 billion driven by social, audio and video, while classifieds expenditure dropped 1.8% year on year to $612 million.
Video and audio advertising both delivered double-digit growth year-on-year, with video expenditure increasing 21% to reach $944.9 million and audio expenditure increasing 26% to reach $65.6 million. 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.
Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia, said: “Search, social video, and audio have been the star performers, helping bolster the traditionally slower first quarter results. 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 report noted that when compared to the preceding quarter, December 2023, 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 and beauty, each of which experienced increased market share. FMCG and home products showed a preference towards video advertising for the quarter.
The share of content publishers inventory bought via an agency insertion order increased again, reaching 25% for the quarter, while inventory purchased direct increased to 18% and the balance of inventory bought programmatically decreased slightly.