One in Five European Advertising Euros Invested Online

Online market share of total advertising ad spend across Europe reached 21.7% in 2011 according to recently published IAB Adex 2011 report. In other words more than 1 in 5 European advertising Euros was invested online. The UK is the most developed online market in Europe at 35.9% share in 2011, while Greece despite its strong growth of 19.7%, occupied the last position with a share of 6.8%. 


Western European markets had a higher market share at 22.7% compared to the CEE equivalent of 16.9%. However, looking at national markets individually reveals that market shares within Western Europe on the one hand, and Central and Eastern Europe on the other are not homogeneous. For instance, Austria and Switzerland exhibit a low online share of their total media advertising spend at 13.0% and 13.9%, lower than most CEE countries.




Central & Eastern Europe Leads Online Advertising Growth 

In 2011 Central and Easter European countries online advertising market demonstrated the highest growth rate in the European continent. As IAB Adex 2011 report documents, Russia led the group with a growth of 55.5%, driven mostly by a surging search market and expanding internet population. 

Display-driven markets such as Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia grew by 40.0%, 35.6%, and 31.1% respectively. Slovakian and Polish online ad markets increased 29.7% and 23.1%, with strong growth across formats. Even tough Turkey exhibited a robust growth rate at 22.4% still the online advertising spending makes up only 13.8% of general advertising expenditure. 


Overall, despite economic slowdown European digital advertising investments continued to grow in 2011.