PwC: UK appetite for online video drives digital ad spend
The increasing number of Britons that watch TV and movies online has driven the advertisement industry to increase its digital advertising spending, with an increase of almost 200% on mobile video ads, according to a research from PwC and Internet Advertising Bureau UK.
Professional services firm PwC recently released, together with Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), 'Digital Adspend', a biannual report that looks into the advertising spend figures in the UK. The most recent research shows that digital advertising is increasing as a result of more and more people watching video clips, TV and films online.
In the UK, almost 73% of Britons have watched TV programmes online in the last six months, 72% watched short online video clips, and almost 60% watched movies online. Looking at the time spent, people in the UK that watch TV programmes online spend on average 2 hours 35 minutes a week, people watching online films 1 hour 50 minutes, and viewers of video clips 51 minutes. The Scots are most likely to watch something online; TV is viewed online by 78% of the Scots, films by 66% and video clips by 82%. Least likely are the Eastern Britons.
According to the report, the increasing appetite for online video and TV has driven advertisers to spend £3.5 billion in the first half year of 2014 on digital advertising, an increase of 16.6% compared to in the first half of 2014. “A third of online viewers, particularly 35-44 year olds, are watching more TV, films and clips online than a year ago. Consequently, video now accounts for £1 in every £5 spent on internet and mobile display ads,” says Tim Elkington, Chief Strategy Officer at the Internet Advertising Bureau UK.
Video advertising on the internet and mobile phones increased by 59% to £202 million, of which mobile video advertising accounts for £63.9 million, an increase of 196%. An amount that is expected to increase even further “As 4G becomes more prevalent and phone screens become larger, it will play an even bigger role in driving digital ad spend – particularly video,” adds Dan Bunyan, Manager at PwC.
