U.S. Internet Advertising Now Bigger than Outdoor, Radio, Magazines

Structural changes in advertising have led to a considerable redistribution of advertising spend between media and channels, a new study by Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, suggests.

Internet advertising now represented just under 15 percent of total advertising expenditure in 2009, compared to just over four percent in 2004.

In the United States, Internet advertising already had climbed to 17 percent of total by 2009, while in the United Kingdom, Internet advertising represented about 27 percent of total.

One way of looking at it is that U.S. Internet advertising already has surpassed outdoor, radio and magazine advertising. Internet advertising relatively soon will pass newspaper advertising to take the number-two spot, behind only television advertising in revenue.

By contrast, print advertising has been hit particularly hard, with spend on newspaper and magazine advertising experiencing the greatest proportional declines over the period, collectively accounting for a third of total expenditure in 2009 compared to 44 percent in 2004.