Digital ad spend rose by 12.6% in the first six months of 2012, hitting a record high of £2.6bn, according to latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) report.

Greater investment in mobile and a rise in digital ad spend by FMCG brands have helped push up digital ad spend. 

Mobile ad spend rose 132% year on year, reaching £181.5m in the first six months of 2012 compared to £203m for the whole of 2011.  

Mobile display, video, SMS and MMS advertising rose by 91% to £49.9m. Mobile search grew by 152% to £131.6m, accounting for 72% of mobile ad spend. 

Digital video advertising is up by 43% to £69.8m from £49m and makes up 12% of online and mobile display. 

“Almost 60% of people in the UK have a smartphone, average UK household broadband speed is now 9MB and social media accounts for one fifth of all internet time,” says Tim Elkington, director of research and strategy at the IAB. 

“It’s no surprise that advertisers are coming to the digital party with bigger budgets, despite the challenging economic times elsewhere.”

FMCG brands have almost doubled their digital spend in the last three years and now account for 15.8% of digital display. FMCG and the finance sector are now the joint highest spenders in digital display. 

 “Video, social and mobile really appeals to FMCG advertisers,” says Elkington, “they can do interesting stuff that they couldn’t do a few years ago.”

The IAB’s advertising expenditure report was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). 

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Smarayda Christoforou