Good news, bad news in latest NZ online ad stats

Total New Zealand online advertising spend during the third quarter was $88.74million up 26.5% year-on-year and up 5.3% from the second quarter, 2011, the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) said this afternoon.

All channels experienced year-on-year growth:

• Search & Directories up 53.4%;
• Classifieds up 14.6% and
• Display up 6.8%.

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However, display advertising contracted quarter-on-quarter (by 1.35%) for the first time since the PriceWaterhouseCoopers IAB survey began.

That means more money was going to the likes of Google and Yellow's search ad and directory options, and less to the banners and blocks favoured by "old" media sites [UPDATE: Localist is not yet covered by the PwC IAB survey; "Only as we haven’t asked them yet."]

The dip in revenue was pinned on the Rugby World Cup and the global financial crisis.

Nevertheless, Total online advertising spend to date for 2011 is now $241m, which represents a remarkable 94% of the total 2010 spend.

Of the overall growth, Alisa Higgins, IABNZ general manager said, “Cross media efficiencies, online video, social media and internet access from mobile devices are some of the main factors driving this growth. IABNZ is predicting total online ad spend to grow to $398m by 2013 and increase its current market share from 12% to 19%.”

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The European financial worries impacted the largest industry category of Investment, Finance and Banking, which reduced share on Display advertising by 17% compared to Q3
last year, the IAB said in a statement.

The RWC effect brought historical Q3 spend levels forward into Q2 for some categories, such as Travel and Accommodation which decreased share by 10% from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011.

For others, it was all about being in-market during the RWC, with Leisure, Entertainment and Media share growing a massive 45% from Q3 in 2010.

For the Telecommunication category, who dropped their share 22% from Q3 2010, perhaps they decided that consumers were too focused on the games to consider changing mobile or ISP providers during the RWC," quipped Laura Maxwell-Hansen Yahoo NZ general manager and IABNZ vice chair.

PwC partner.Chris Perree said online advertising opportunities, including video, would expand with the government's $1.35 billion Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) roll-out