Digital adspend shows signs of revival Down Under

The Australian digital advertising market is showing signs of recovery, with 11.3% growth from the second quarter to reach $2.26 billion in Q3 ending 30 September. The data from the IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER), shows that all categories have grown after the pandemic-induced declines of the previous three months. 

According to a statement from IAB, search and directories now represent 45% of all expenditure (over a billion dollars) in the quarter ending September 2020, general display 38% ($871 million) and classifieds 17% or $386 million. 

The general display formats of video, standard display, and infeed/native advertising all experienced double-digit quarter on quarter recovery, growing at 11%, 10% and 19% respectively.  Video advertising is shifting towards pre-pandemic results with CTV inventory experiencing the highest growth across digital screens. 
 
“It’s been a challenging year but the growth this quarter in terms of digital formats signals the industry is bouncing back," Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia said in a press release. "We are now entering what is traditionally considered the industry’s’ strongest quarter and we anticipate a continuation of the growth through to the end of the year.”

Although search and directories and classifieds sectors were still down on the previous year (-6.9% and -11.5% respectively), general display revenue was marginally up with a 0.9% assisted by the strong growth in video revenue. 

Meanwhile, in terms of segments contributing to this revival, IAB noted that retail was the top investor in digital ads, even as consumer goods has broken into the top five industries for general display expenditure for the first time since June 2017.

Advertisers’ buying preferences for content publishers’ inventory remained stable in the quarter, with 40% opting to buy via an agency, 16% direct, 11% via programmatic guaranteed and 33% via programmatic RTB/PMP. In addition, investment continues to trend towards connected TV, shifting share from both desktop and mobile devices. Mobile now represents two-thirds of general display advertising and 63% of search and directories.