UK internet ad spend 'to top TV in 2009'

Spending on internet advertising in the UK will top television in 2009, a media agency has predicted.

Planning and buying agency Group M has forecast that by the end of this year 24.8% of the market will be on the internet compared to 26% in television. Online will then take the lead.

Analysts said internet revenue is expected to rise by 30.8% this year to £3.4bn compared with 1% in television, to £3.56bn. The rapid rise would make the UK the world's first big market to see online outgrow television.

Adam Smith, futures director at the agency said: "The UK is a special case. Its TV share is depressed by the BBC and there is still a large and healthy print sector and Britons are among the world's heaviest internet users."

He added, however, that much of the internet spend was new money so television advertising would remain a major market.

"The internet is not one medium, its growth rate is a blend of three distinct businesses growing at different speeds: search, display and classified," explained Smith.

"Most of the growth is coming from search advertising and that is being fuelled by either new money or from the direct marketing sector, not so much from TV ad budgets."