Online budgets 'in double-digit growth'

Online advertisers are likely to spend £3.7 billion this year, a 27 per cent increase on the budgets of 2007, a new report has revealed.

A study conducted by eMarketer has predicted that the amount spent through online advertising will continue to rise rapidly, exceeding £4.3 billion in 2010 and £5 billion during 2012.

Furthermore, the study showed that British spending on search marketing rose by almost 60 per cent between 2006 and 2007.

E-marketer forecasted that this spending will rise to more than £3 billion by 2012.

Karin von Abrams, senior analyst and author of the report, stated: "While the rate of growth in search-related spending is falling slightly as the market evolves, annual growth is still remarkable."

The increase in budget allocation is likely to be in response to the rising number of consumers shopping online.

Recently, the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index revealed that consumer web-based spending reached a record high of £4.2 billion during February, an equivalent of £69 per person in the UK.