Advertisers spent £7.2bn on digital advertising in 2014

A new study by the IAB has found that a rise in digital technology in homes has driven advertisers to spend a record £7.2 billion on digital advertising in 2014.

The research, conducted by PwC and accompanied by YouGov consumer data, found that the average UK household now owns 7.4 devices that connect to the internet. Smartphones were found to be the most common internet-enabled device (1.7 per household), followed by laptops (1.3) and tablets (1.2). Four in 10 (40%) households now own one tablet, one fifth (19%) have two, while 11% own three or more. According to the IAB/PwC data, tablet-dedicated ad spend alone grew 118% to reach £87.4 million.

Alongside the rise in internet-enabled devices, IAB/PwC data shows advertisers increased digital ad spend, like-for-like, by 14% to £7.19 billion in 2014 – up from £6.26 billion in 2013 (an absolute increase of £936m).

“Advertisers are increasing their digital budgets to reach people as they go online through an increasing array of devices,” says Tim Elkington, Chief Strategy Officer at the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau. “It’s a win-win for consumers, because digital advertising pays for the wide range of free online services they increasingly rely on in their daily lives, but don’t necessarily want to pay much for.”

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