Loans firm and eBay overtake Sky at top of 100 biggest online spenders

by Nicola Clark, Marketing 26-Mar-08, 08:45

LONDON - BSkyB has lost its position as the UK's biggest-spending online advertiser, after slashing its digital budget in 2007.

Figures compiled exclusively for Marketing by Nielsen Media Research revealed that the broadcaster reduced its web spend by 18.7% year on year to £15.7m.

In contrast, Personal Loan Express increased its digital budget to £28.5m, up 72% year on year, making it the UK's top-spending brand online; eBay moved into second after boosting its spend by more than 397% to almost £20m.

Scott Gallacher, director of online and partner marketing at BSkyB, said it has increased its investment in search marketing, which is not measured by the Nielsen data.

Several brands made their debut in the top 100 this year, including News International and Amazon. The former grew its investment in online ads by more than 270% year on year.

Dating Direct and Bingos Net were among a number of brands that dedicated their entire UK media budget to online ads.

However, four of the top 100 online advertisers, including Asda and P&G, invested less than 2% of their media budget in digital.

The Top 100 Online Advertisers table.