Online advertising 'performing strongly'

11th July 2008

Growth within the online marketing industry is looking strong, according to a new report from William Blair & Company and the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association.

However, this could change in the near future due to widespread economic concerns, the study warned.

Troy Mastin, equity research analyst at William Blair & Company, said that growth in the sector is predicted to fall to 16 per cent in the next 12 months compared with 19 per cent in previous years.

However, he pointed to the social media field as one area of online marketing that could thrive regardless and highlighted the fact that marketers appear to believe that Google will continue to come out on top in the industry.

"In the near term, we expect that shares of Google will lead the group because of its continued dominance in search and recent moves to secure strong positioning in display, video, social networking and mobile advertising," Mr Mastin stated.

According to Hitwise, Google accounted for almost nine in ten online searches in the UK during May.