Digital Adspend

In conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the IAB has produced the twice yearly digital advertising spend figures in the UK since 1997. As used by the Advertising Association, these figures are the most authoritative means of assessing the size of the online advertising market in the UK.

Digital advertising revenue figures are submitted confidentially by media owners to PwC who then analyse the submissions and ensure that revenue has not been doubled counted - for example between site owners and advertising networks. The IAB and PWC also work with an Advisory Board (including the major agency groups) to ensure that the value of the whole market is reflected in the results and that any major media owners not able to contribute to the study are included through estimation.

Once checked, PwC delivers the revenue figures to the IAB. These are then analysed by type of advertising (e.g. display, search and classified), advertising format (e.g. banners / embedded, pre-roll and post roll video or affiliate) and sector of advertiser within display (e.g. finance, entertainment or consumer goods). The results also enable trend analysis over time on a like-for-like basis and place the value of online advertising spend within the context of the whole UK advertising market.

Results for H1 are available in October and full year results in Spring every year.