The Guardian reported yesterday on the latest figures from the Advertising Association (note, PDF link) on the UK advertising market. As with just about every other such report for the last few years, it shows online advertising in rude health.

[Online] spending up a dramatic 39.5% - year on year - to just over £3bn. Online advertising, which was the fastest-growing sector, accounted for 16% of total UK ad spend last year.

In contrast, TV only grew by 2.3%, although it does still sit at a lofty £4.6bn. So does this back-up suggestions that 2008 could be the year that online finally overtakes TV to become the 2nd biggest advertising medium in the UK (behind the combined spend on national & regional press & magazine advertising)? Well, not entirely.

A simple bit of maths shows that if last year’s growth rates continue, then 2008 will see internet spend on £4.2bn and TV on £4.7bn. And whilst it would be rather foolhardy to suggest that growth will continue at exactly the same rate, it seems likely that online will continue to grow at a much faster rate than any of the other mediums, especially if the troubling financial outlook makes ROI even more important than ever.

There are some who do think that 2008 will be the year that TV is left for dust by online, The Guardian amongst them. Below you can see a still form rather whizzy little animation they put together, tracking the inexorable growth of Google (which for many, is the internet, and certainly accounts for a massive proportion of spend online):

According to this, 2008 will not only see online beat TV, but Google outstrip national newspapers, which really would be incredible.

And in fact, it may well be that this has happened already. Because, again according to The Guardian, SEO in the UK is estimated to be worth around £2.2bn and SEO, due to the fact that it is often done in house, and is not always classed as advertising (although in many ways it is) is therefore often not counted in these sort of figures. And if that is the case, it would put online advertising/marketing spend at over £5bn, leaving it with only the combined press total to beat - and wouldn’t that be a headline for the newspapers?

Header image: anna carol on flickr

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