Global digital ad spending passed the $100-billion mark for the first time in 2012, with the UK leading the way, according to new research.
The report, from eMarketer forecasts that mobile and digital ad spend will increase by a further 15.1% in 2013 to $118.4 billion.
That will put worldwide digital ad spending levels including online and mobile advertising spending, other than messaging-based formats, at 21.7% of the total spent on ads in all media this year, and on track to account for more than one-quarter of all ad spending by 2016.
The study found that in 2012. mobile advertisers in the UK spent more trying to reach each mobile internet user than anywhere else in the world.
The UK was trailed by the US, Japan and Scandinavian advertisers, which also spent heavily on mobile.
Advertisers spent $36.35 (£22.62) per mobile internet user in the UK in 2012, higher than any other market worldwide. Norway came in a close second, at $35.71 per person.
The US has the third-highest spending per mobile internet user in the world; advertisers in the country spent an average of $31.50 to reach each one. Japan, which is the world’s second-largest mobile advertising market in terms of absolute dollars, saw advertisers spend $26.23 per mobile internet user, putting it behind Denmark and in fifth place.
For total media ad spending per person, Norway took the top spot, above the US, Japan, China and the UK. Marketers spent $614.99 per person on advertising in Norway last year, eMarketer estimates.
In the UK, advertisers spent an estimated $380.17 per person, lower than the $524.75 spent per person in the US, but higher than larger ad markets like Japan and China.
Digital ad spend
For total digital ad spend, North America accounts for the greatest share of all digital ad spending, at 39% as of the end of 2012.
As emerging markets in Asia-Pacific and Latin America up spending, however, North America and second-place Western Europe will lose share slightly throughout the forecast period.
By 2016, 36.7% of spending will come from North America, and 23.7% from Western Europe. By the same year, Asia-Pacific will contribute 29.8% of all digital ad spend in the world, the report found.
The fastest growth in spending will come from the emerging markets of Indonesia, India and Mexico—though that growth is coming from a relatively small base of spending, eMarketer predicted.
As a percent of total ad spending, Western Europe’s digital spending is slightly ahead of North America’s, at 24.9% this year vs. 24.6%. Asia-Pacific is not far behind, though in the world’s lagging region, the Middle East and Africa, just 7% of all ad dollars go to digital media.
eMarketer expects this percentage to nearly double by 2016, but the region will still be far behind the near-30% of ad spending devoted to digital in Western Europe and North America.
North America and Western Europe also boast the highest regional levels of digital ad spending per internet user, at $168 and $112 this year, respectively.
eMarketer forms its estimates of digital ad spending around the world based on the analysis of various elements related to the ad spending market, including macro-level economic conditions, historical trends of the advertising market, estimates from other research firms, and consumer internet usage trends.
