A watershed moment for online advertising

[Allen Mathews]

A watershed moment for online advertising

Online has spent a long time playing the poor cousin to bigger mediums and trying desperately to prove its worth. So to see the sector eclipse TV and become the biggest advertising medium last week was a major milestone.

I remember covering online ad spend reports back in Australia in 2003 when the market was worth about A$150m. That’s a far cry from the £1.75bn the UK market hit in H1 this year and a world away from the concept that online could be bigger than TV.

That online ad spend has grown this year while the overall advertising market dropped 17% is vindication of the sector’s accountability and the huge game of catch-up being played to bring marketing spend in line with audience usage.