online marketing forges ahead

Online marketing spend registered significant growth for Q4 2003, according to the IPA Bellwether report published on the 20th January 2004. It was the best quarter for internet marketing since Bellwether began its surveys of marketing budgets in 2000.

In terms of revisions to budgets, internet marketing expenditure outperformed other marketing channels for the seventh consecutive quarter, according to the report.

Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP commented "...[In the UK] most, if not all, of the current growth is coming from non-media areas such as direct, internet and interactive the functions that are more easily measurable and quantifiable."

Said John Owen, IPA Digital Marketing Group Chairman and Planning Director of Dare Digital: "Internet marketing's steady and consistent growth continues unabated. Clients from all sectors now consider it a staple part of their marketing mix and many continue to revise their online budgets upwards as they see further proof of the medium's effectiveness."