British consumer products advertisers have been looking forward to the London 2012 Olympics. The total media advertising spend is set for a significant increase in new growth this year -- due partly to Olympics related promotional activities.
eMarketer now estimates that with total spending forecast to reach $24.21 billion -- it's increased by about 4.5 percent. In a tough European economic environment, that's considered to be a big bonus.
And, according to the results of a recent market study, a record amount of that ad spending will be online. eMarketer estimates that fully one in three ad campaign spending in the UK will be digital this year -- a figure that will rise to nearly one in two by 2016.
Mobile ad spending is on an even stronger growth trajectory, estimated to be up by 70.3 percent this year after a record rise of 144.8 percent in 2011. Mobile spending is still growing from a small base, however, and as total spend increases, growth will moderate.
By 2016, mobile spending will be up by a relatively modest 40.3 percent to surpass $3 billion -- that's nearly six times this year’s estimated spending.
Speaking with eMarketer about their London 2012 Olympics campaign, Marc Pritchard, global CMO of Procter & Gamble, said "We can measure the effectiveness of digital media, and it’s actually one of the highest ROI activities right now because there is a much higher level of engagement."
He added, "If you can target your communications more effectively and get people to engage, then it does generate a higher purchase intent."
So, just how much of its huge advertising budget will be directed to online?
When asked about the P&G advertsing budget allocation, Prichard responded "I can’t give you the exact amount, but I will tell you that more than a third of the impressions that we have are coming through digital -- that’s both paid and earned."
P&G is apparently very reluctant to provide anybody with an exact figure of their online advertising expense, because that would be proprietary information that their competitors would really like to know. But they say that it's definitely going up.
eMarketer’s estimates of UK digital advertising spending are based on the analysis of data from benchmark source IAB UK/PwC; estimates from other research firms; and consumer mobile usage trends.