A new forecast this week by eMarketer says that China will overtake the UK as the world’s second largest online advertising spender by 2014. The forecast says that Chinese spending on online advertising will hit $11.78 billion against the UK’s $11.25 billion. The USA is projected to spend $52.8 billion by 2014.
eMarketer summarize the reason for the rapid expansion in spend to the huge growth in the Chinese middle class which are the economy’s consumers. China has over half a billion internet users. It also says that the entire Asia-Pacific region will overtake Europe as the second largest online advertising spending region in the world in 2013. It’s projection says that Asia Pacific will spend $33.57 billion against Europe’s $31.17 billion and North America’s $50.02 billion.
Michael Chen of P-R.asia, an Online PR agency focused on bringing Asian businesses to western markets says, “This online advertising spending in China is currently mainly with Baidu though there are some smaller alternatives such as Soso and Sogou. Chinese businesses are just starting to understand their metrics that allow them to roll out online advertising campaigns profitably. The opportunity is huge as the middle class is craving better services and products.”
By the end of 2012 online ad spending around the world is predicted by eMarketer to be $107.33 billion which is approximately 20% of total ad spend for all media around the world. The UK will be the major trend-bucker as online advertising will be around 33% of the total ad spend in 2012. Latin America is also seeing rapid growth in this area mainly due to Brazil’s robust economic growth.
David Twigg of Online Marketing Specialists OMC: “The growth of online advertising around the world at the current rate of 20% per annum is going to continue. Platforms are getting more sophisticated and creating more opportunity for companies that get good advice. The Adwords platform offers fantastic value to businesses when leveraged correctly, media buys can offer incredible brand exposure quickly and there are a growing number of new platforms that can offer microniche targeted advertising to a qualified audience.”
