By Alan Coleman on 14 Apr 2016
The IAB Ireland 2015 digital adspend figures are out now and make for a very exciting read. These figures reveal a dramatically different digital media landscape than we saw two years ago.
How Social is Eating Display in 'Digital Adspend Ireland'
The ‘display is surging’ headline is misleading. Digital marketers don't consider paid social or native advertising as display, these are regarded as independent channels.
If you dive into the display category figures, you can see that social is eating display. Display, aka banner advertising, was actually the smallest category in the study measuring €18.5 million. Paid social, which has really taken off since Facebook introduced newsfeed ads, is now 265% the size of display at €49 million! This is an astonishing reversal in just a few short years.
Even native advertising, another relatively new channel is now twice the size of display.
There is evidence of Darwinism here in the realm of 'Digital Adspend Ireland'. In 2015, advertisers shifted their spend from display to paid social to enjoy engagement rates that are ten times better, more ‘shareability’ and less exposure to ad blocking.
The Dominance of the Internet Giants
The internet giants are clearly winning the battle for Ireland’s online euros, with two thirds of digital spend being divvied up between the big kahunas.
Paid search, read Google, now accounts for €0.52 cents of every €1 spent online.
Paid social, read Facebook, now accounts for €0.14 cents of every €1 spent online.
This leaves €0.34 cents in €1 for the indigenous players to compete for against up and coming international players such as Outbrain and Taboola.
It’s great to see Irish digital marketers embracing exciting new digital channels. 2015 will surely go down as a turning point for Digital Adspend Ireland.
