Why Britain’s online advertising is soaring

Cory Bergman December 4th, 2006

An intriguing story in the NY Times compares the advertising trends in the U.S. with the U.K, where online is growing at 40 percent a year and is expected to account for 10.5 percent of all advertising at the end of this year (compared to 5.6 in the U.S). What’s the primary difference? Most of Britain’s advertising is national, and local markets in the U.S. have been slow to spend on the web. In other words, there’s a ton of money in the local markets, and as the portals and pure plays continue their aggressive local push, we could see that 5.6 number grow in a hurry.