Loans firm overtakes Sky as top online spender

BSkyB has lost its position as the UK's biggest-spending online advertiser, after slashing its digital budget in 2007, a report from research firm Nielsen Media said.

The Nielsen Media Research report revealed that the broadcaster reduced its web spend by 18.7% year on year to pounds 15.7 million pounds.

In contrast, Personal Loan Express increased its digital budget to £28.5 million, up 72% year on year, making it the UK's top-spending brand online.

eBay moved into second after boosting its spend by more than 397% to almost £20 million .

Several brands made their debut in the top 100 this year, including News International and Amazon.

The former grew its investment in online ads by more than 270% year-on-year.

Dating Direct and Bingos Net were among a number of brands that dedicated their entire UK media budget to online ads.

However, four of the top 100 online advertisers, including Asda and P&G, invested less than 2% of their media budget in digital.