The local Australian online advertising market has continued to grow, reaching $3.455bn for the quarter ending 30th September 2022, an increase of 6.5% on the same period in 2021 according to data from the IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) prepared by PwC.
Overall online advertising growth softened by 4.9% compared to the June 2022 quarter with advertiser spending across general display and search being pulled back driven by uncertain macroeconomic conditions. Only classifieds saw spending increasing 4.7%, driven by record job ad volumes. General display advertising decreased 4.9% in spending for the quarter, while search and directories decreased 8.4%.
Classified advertising held a 19% share of spend ($644m), with search & directories at 42% ($1.475m) and general display held at 39% ($1.336m).
While video advertising outperformed the overall general display market, its growth decelerated as advertisers pull back their spending in response towards market conditions. Connected TV continued its steady increase in the share of content publishers’ video revenue, increasing to 49% of spend, while desktop decreased slightly to 31% share and mobile held at 20% of expenditure.
Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia commented: “Overall the results for digital advertising investment were positive for the September quarter, with the classified listings market being the standout performer driven in a large part by the employment market. The display market was softer than we have seen in previous quarters and while we are seeing some caution around marketing investment, the comparative quarter in 2021 was bolstered by Olympic-related ad dollars.”
Retail advertising held its leading position of expenditure, while real estate and automotive also held their top five ranking. Entertainment was the standout for the quarter, entering the top five for expenditure, while spend in the finance category decreased.
The agency’s share of content publishers’ inventory increased for the quarter across standard display, infeed, and video advertising. While programmatic trading and agencies buying via an IO still dominate the buying methods, this quarter showed the steady shift towards programmatic guaranteed deals is continuing, overtaking direct sales.
