Irish digital ad spend grows by 34% in 2014

The 2014 IAB PwC Online Adspend Study records growth of 34% in the Irish digital ad market with a total digital spend of €263m.  Mobile adspend now accounts for €1 in every €3 spent on digital advertising. Digital’s very strong upward trajectory contrasts with adspend on other media over the same twelve-month period. Nielsen tracks a modest 2% growth in other media in 2014 (Nielsen AdDynamix 2014)

Display advertising grew by 35% to €99m, it now represents 38% of total digital spend. Drivers of display adspend growth include the strong performance of social media display with a spend of €28.5m in 2014 (+108% on 2013) and a 63% growth in spend on digital video to €14.3m in 2015.   Paid-for-Search advertising has grown by 43% yoy and remains the dominant digital format with a 52% share of total online adspend at  €137m.   Classified advertising online continued to perform strongly in 2014, holding a 10% share of online adspend at €27m.

FMCG is the top spending category in cross platform display spend with a category share of 16% of display spend. Retail holds second position at 14%, followed by Finance with a 13% share.

Mobile advertising grew by 132% as the Irish advertising market followed the consumer’s migration to mobile. Mobile Search accounts for 70% of total mobile spend with Mobile Display advertising representing 30%. Retail takes poll position as the top-spending category on Mobile Display accounting for 15%, FMCG and Finance are joint second with a 13% share respectively.