Internet advertising ‘to overtake TV’

Television will fall away as the dominant advertising medium in 2018 with the internet becoming the single largest category, according to media buying agency ZenithOptimedia.

TV will account for 38% of all ad-spend in 2015, from a 2012 peak of 39.7%, but that will drop to 34.8% by 2018.

TV will remain, however, a powerful medium for advertisers, ZenithOptimedia said: “One of the reasons for television’s loss of share is the rapid growth of paid search, which is essentially a direct response channel, while television is the pre-eminent brand awareness channel – and we expect it to remain so for many years to come.”

It added: “Television offers unparalleled capacity to build reach, while online video offers pinpoint targeting and personalisation of marketing messages.”

Across all categories, ZenithOptimedia noted stable growth is expected through to 2018. Next year will be strong because of the ‘quadrennial’ effect of a US election, summer Olympics and European football championships.

Key growth markets are India, Indonesia and the Philippines.