Advertisers to Spend Over £5B Online by 2012 in U.K.

Advertisers will spend £3.4 billion in 2008, up 27% from 2007 levels, and will continue double-digit growth through 2010, passing £4.3 billion in 2010 and exceeding £5 billion in 2012, according to online ad spending data released by eMarketer, MarketingCharts writes.

(See table, online advertising spend in the U.K., 2007-2012.)

Internet advertising should hold its own in the U.K., and may even consolidate gains over other media during the economic decline, according to eMarketer’s report, “U.K. Online Advertising: Reaching Maturity.”

Because online channels are more accountable and cheaper than television, print and other traditional media, they can help advertisers to boost brand and market share even when money is tight, it said.

Internet is expected to surpass television in market share of U.K. advertising in 2010, and spending on search and display ad formats was up sharply in 2007 (see table).

Search-related marketing accounted for 50% of all U.K. online advertising spending in 2006, and nearly 60% in 2007, according to eMarketer.

eMarketer estimates that U.K. spending on search rose 57% between 2006 and 2007 and will top £3 billion in 2012.

“While the rate of growth in search-related spending is falling slightly as the market evolves, annual growth is still remarkable,” says Karin von Abrams, senior analyst and author of the report.

The U.K. leads Europe in internet advertising spending, which accounts for a far higher proportion of total advertising spending in the U.K. than in almost any other country: Online advertising has already passed 10% of total advertising spending.

Note: eMarketer benchmarks its U.K. online ad spending projections against the Interactive Advertising Bureau U.K./PricewaterhouseCoopers data.