From left: Suzanne McElligott, IAB; Shane Nolan, IAB and Google; and Amy Ball, PwC. Image: IAB
Lion’s share of digital ad spend is mobile.
Total digital ad spend in Ireland has surged to €574m, up 17pc in 2018, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC Online Ad Spend report.
Mobile ad spend is the biggest segment, capturing €376m of this in 2018, a year-on-year growth of 43pc from 2017.
‘The increased use of programmatic trading in the Irish market also supports increased efficiencies of targeting, buying and reporting’
– NUALA NIC GHEARAILT
Display advertising grew by 18pc to €250m in 2018. This growth was driven by social, with a 31pc growth rate year on year, and video, which enjoyed a 34pc growth rate in the same period.
Search advertising grew by 17pc in 2018 with an ad spend of €286m and a share of 50pc of the total Irish digital advertising market.
Classified advertising online performed strongly with a 10pc growth rate year on year and a 7pc share of the total 2018 online ad spend at €38m.
Smartphone nation
The research revealed that 90pc of Irish internet users have smartphones and the most popular activity on smartphones is finding information on goods and services (88pc), followed by email.
Looking to 2019, more than one in three marketeers (37pc) say they plan to increase their marketing spend, focusing on the areas of social media (49pc), content marketing (28pc), search (25pc), digital video (24pc) and online display/programmatic (24pc).
“The digital advertising market in Ireland continues to show a robust growth level of 17pc, which is driven largely by increased spend on search, particularly mobile search, video on demand and social media,” said Nuala Nic Ghearailt, a manager at PwC.
“The increased use of programmatic trading in the Irish market also supports increased efficiencies of targeting, buying and reporting,” she said.
