Euro ad spend closing gap on US

The report showed that online ad spend in Europe totalled €11.2bn (£8.8bn) last year, up from €7.2bn (£5.7bn) in 2006, while the US market stood at €14.5bn (£11.5bn) last year.

Two thirds - €7.3bn (£2.9bn) - of European online ad budgets were spent in the big three European markets of UK, Germany and France. However, some of the smaller markets in Europe posted the biggest annual growth, with Greece at 91%, Spain at 55% and Slovenia at 49%.

Additionally, the report shows that in seven European markets, online ad spend accounts for at least 10% of overall ad spend. In the UK, online ad spend accounts for 15.3% of all ad spend.

Industry category data has been included in the report for the first time and reveals that the sectors investing the most in online advertising in 2007 were entertainment and leisure, telecoms and finance and insurance.

Alain Heureux, President of IAB Europe, said: "Despite a slowdown in advertising spend on some traditional media, the rise of online advertising in Europe continues unabated. Not only is the growth coming from some of the smaller markets which are seeing significant increases in their market value, but also from the more mature countries, as companies move their advertising budgets online for the first time."

This article was first published on Media Week