Online marketing spending 'bucks the trend'

A rise has been witnessed in the amount of money spent on web-based advertising during the third quarter of 2009, a new report has indicated.

The latest report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) indicates that platforms such as email marketing continued to gain in popularity.

Between July and September, a first rise in online marketing expenditure was witnessed since the second quarter of 2008.

Web-based advertising was the only category to enjoy an increase in spend, with less spent on channels such as direct marketing compared to the previous quarter.

Rory Sutherland, president of the IPA, said that despite some of the falls, encouragement could be taken from the fact that overall budget cuts are finally slowing.

He added: "It will be interesting to see whether the rise in internet spend will presage an upturn in other categories."

Econsultancy recently claimed that the UK's email marketing sector is set to grow by 15 per cent during 2009.

Written by Mark Hainsby