Online advertising boosts Q1 marketing budgets

Spending on online advertising has driven up marketing budgets for the first quarter of the year.

This is according to the latest IPA Bellwether, which shows a net balance of 11.8 per cent of businesses saw their marketing budgets increasing in the opening three months of 2017.

This is down slightly on the 12.9 per cent seen in the last quarter of 2016, but maintains the four-and-a-half-year period of consecutive growth for marketing budgets recorded in the Bellwether report.

Web and mobile appear to be the main areas of growth when it comes to adspend, with a net balance of 16.9 per cent of companies increasing their budget for internet marketing, up from 12.1 per cent in Q4 of 2016.

Investment in mobile has jumped as smartphone use continues to take screen-time away from other devices, rising to a net balance of 10.3 per cent from 3.9 per cent a quarter ago.

Director general at the IPA Paul Bainsfair said the figures show markets remain committed to investment, even with the uncertainty of Brexit.

"it is clear that marketers are attracted to the cost-effectiveness of digital advertising and its ability to reach and accurately target their consumers," he remarked.