LONDON: Mobile's share of digital advertising expenditure in the UK has grown ninefold over the past five years, with spending on mobile video more than doubling during 2016, new figures show.
According to the Digital Adspend Report, from trade body IAB UK and consulting firm PwC, mobile now accounts for 38% of all digital ad spend, up from 4% just five years ago.
Overall digital expenditure grew 17.3% to reach £10.3bn last year; within that, mobile jumped 50.3% to £3.87bn as more and more of consumers' digital time is spent with this device.
Mobile's significance is further highlighted in its share of various advertising formats: it accounted for 63% of video spend, according to IAB data, 76% of content & native (including social media news feeds) and 79% of social media spend.
Spend on mobile video ads alone more than doubled, increasing 103% to £693m – making it the fastest growing ad format.
"Reaching the £10bn threshold has been made possible by brands breaking the mould, trying innovative formats and making the most of video to reach and amaze people," said James Chandler, chief marketing officer at IAB UK, adding that the rise in people consuming mobile and video content "has accelerated digital's growth rate to its highest level for nearly a decade".
Video spending across both mobile and PCs was up 56%, driven by outstream/social in-feed's huge 234% rise to £465m. Outstream accounted for 43% of all video spend in 2016 but 56% of mobile video, the report noted.
Meanwhile, the rise of programmatic media buying continued. Of the £3.77bn spent on digital display ads, £2.71bn worth of media was traded programmatically, with significant growth in direct deals and private marketplaces.
"The biggest change in how display ads are sold is the rise of programmatic direct, which now accounts for nearly half of sales," said Dan Bunyan, Senior Manager at PwC.
"Right now, considerations such as brand safety mean the advertiser is rightly demanding more certainty in the placement of their ads and the industry is evolving quickly to find new solutions to address brands' needs in this dynamic environment," he added.
Mobile also played an important role in boosting paid-for search which grew 15% (mobile +48%) to £4.99bn, a 48pc share of total digital adspend.
According to the Digital Adspend Report, from trade body IAB UK and consulting firm PwC, mobile now accounts for 38% of all digital ad spend, up from 4% just five years ago.
Overall digital expenditure grew 17.3% to reach £10.3bn last year; within that, mobile jumped 50.3% to £3.87bn as more and more of consumers' digital time is spent with this device.
Mobile's significance is further highlighted in its share of various advertising formats: it accounted for 63% of video spend, according to IAB data, 76% of content & native (including social media news feeds) and 79% of social media spend.
Spend on mobile video ads alone more than doubled, increasing 103% to £693m – making it the fastest growing ad format.
"Reaching the £10bn threshold has been made possible by brands breaking the mould, trying innovative formats and making the most of video to reach and amaze people," said James Chandler, chief marketing officer at IAB UK, adding that the rise in people consuming mobile and video content "has accelerated digital's growth rate to its highest level for nearly a decade".
Video spending across both mobile and PCs was up 56%, driven by outstream/social in-feed's huge 234% rise to £465m. Outstream accounted for 43% of all video spend in 2016 but 56% of mobile video, the report noted.
Meanwhile, the rise of programmatic media buying continued. Of the £3.77bn spent on digital display ads, £2.71bn worth of media was traded programmatically, with significant growth in direct deals and private marketplaces.
"The biggest change in how display ads are sold is the rise of programmatic direct, which now accounts for nearly half of sales," said Dan Bunyan, Senior Manager at PwC.
"Right now, considerations such as brand safety mean the advertiser is rightly demanding more certainty in the placement of their ads and the industry is evolving quickly to find new solutions to address brands' needs in this dynamic environment," he added.
Mobile also played an important role in boosting paid-for search which grew 15% (mobile +48%) to £4.99bn, a 48pc share of total digital adspend.
Data sourced from IAB UK; additional content by WARC staff
