Internet advertising rose 16 percent to $84.8 billion in 2011, accounting for more than 17 percent of all global measured media spending according to new research from GroupM.
The WPP Group media agency holding company also predicts digital ad spending this year will climb almost 16 percent to $98.2 billion, representing nearly 19 percent of all measured media spending.
This year, North America rung up the highest level of digital ad spending, with a marketing investment of an estimated $34.5 billion; followed by Asia Pacific with $24.8 billion and Western Europe with $21 billion. The same pattern is expected to hold this year, with North America spending $38 billion on digital ads; Asia Pacific, $31.4 billion and Western Europe, $23 billion.
Last year, digital advertising in the U.S. increased 12 percent to $32.2 billion, an amount that represents a 22 percent share of the overall domestic media market. In 2012, spending is expected to rise 10 percent to $35.4 billion, a 23 percent share of media dollars.
The study, “This Year, Next Year: Interaction 2012,” was released by London-based GroupM futures director Adam Smith and GroupM interaction global CEO Rob Norman in New York. In addition to current spending statistics, it contains historical comparative data: Digital advertising’s share of total ad spending rose from 4.4 percent worldwide in 2004, for instance, to the current projected 18.8 percent this year. Consumers’ media time spent online jumped to 19 percent last year from 11 percent in 2006 and the number of global broadband homes nearly tripled to reach 500 million.