Online advertising market defying recession

Online and mobile advertising spending will continue to see growth, albeit at a reduced rate, even as global ad spending plummets to a 29-year low, researchers said.

Researchers ZenithOptimedia said online advertising spending will grow 8.6% in 2009, reaching $54.3 billion by the end of the year, even as the overall market slumps by 6.9%. 

Internet advertising will be the only advertising medium to achieve growth, yet the recession will still have a decisive impact - online ad spending grew 20.9% in 2008, Zenith said.

The online market will recover by 2011, but will not return to its 2008 high, instead reaching a growth rate of around 15%, Zenith said. Online advertising captured 10.4% of the global market in 2008, and this will rise to 14.6% by 2011.

BuzzCity, meanwhile, said  it delivered 8.5 billion paid advertising banners in the first three months of 2009, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 11%.

Indonesians were served with the most banners - 4.4 billion, a 23% growth, while China recorded the highest growth - 67%.

The results show that the global recession is having little to no effect on mobile advertisers or user habits, BuzzCity said.