Banking sector fuels digital ad spend

The finance sector continues to drive online advertising spend in Australia, representing the highest spending advertiser industry category across general display advertising during 2009.

According to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau and researched by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the finance sector spent $94 million or 19 per cent in 2009 on general display advertising, which includes video and email formats.
 
Throughout the year general display ad spending across all industries increased by 7.1 per cent to $498 million. Defying the traditional media marketing spend slowdown, the online advertising market as a whole reported double digit growth, reaching  $1.87 billion for the full calendar year.  

While the rapid growth witnessed in online advertising over the last few years showed signs of a slowdown in 2009, IAB Australia CEO Paul Fisher explained that the apparent slowdown is based on comparisons of 50 per cent year-on-year growth every year and, as the market matures, growth will inevitably chart at a slower pace.

"In the face of the global financial crisis, and reduced advertising and marketing budgets, more marketers and agencies across the spectrum of industry sectors continued and increased their investment in online advertising throughout 2009," he added.

Online advertising spend across the finance sector, which includes business banking, credit cards, home loans, superannuation, personal banking, wealth management and other finance, has been decreasing fractionally over the last six months but the PWC report suggests that this is more a function of other sectors catching up to finance's early-adopter growth patterns.

The finance sector was quick to embrace digital advertising at the start of the internet boom, as astute marketers used the emerging platform as a point of difference in a highly competitive sector.

According to the PWC reports, the finance sector has led online advertising spend consistently for the past five years, and remains a significantly higher spender than the number two category of computers and communications, recording a 12.7 per cent share, and the third, motor vehicles, which recorded a 12.5 per cent share.

The digital channel is highly attractive to the finance sector, particularly credit cards with an annual spend of $19m or 3.9 per cent, and home loans at $27 million or 5.45 per cent of the category, as it allows brands to utilise the benefits of performance-based advertising metrics for customer acquisition and lead generation.

The finance sector's commitment to the digital advertising channel was also bolstered by the negative fallout on the banking sector courtesy of the GFC. The bail out of banks by governments globally and the rise in interest rates locally, has meant that the finance sector has had to work hard on a marketing level to regain brand value.

While business and consumer confidence is recovering, banks have borne the brunt and are trying harder to retain consumer trust and to refocus on their customers. Getting the message across digitally appears to be working in getting to the heartland of the finance sector and shows no sign of abating.

Fisher and the PWC report forecast the continued growth of online advertising expenditure, while the industry is expecting a decline of up to $900 million in the Australian advertising marketplace for 2009.

"In 2010, advanced standards and guidelines for online advertising, local research, and standardised online audience measurement will further accelerate investment in online advertising to surpass $2 billion this financial year and calendar year, increasing its share of the advertising market," Fisher said.