Internet marketing gains momentum

Internet marketing spend is reaching record highs, while traditional advertising and sales promotion budgets are being slashed across the board.Growth of Internet marketing continues, with 30% of companies reporting an increase to budgets against a 6% of those reporting a decrease for the second quarter of this year. The report from the of Practitioners in Advertising found that the proportion of companies allocating more than 10% of spend to Internet marketing rose to a record high of over 17%, while the proportion of companies allocating no spend to Internet budgets fell to a record low of 11%.

According to the survey the channel only accounts for 4% of marketers' total spend, but a minimum of 26% of consumers' media time is now spent in front of a computer screen, indicating massive potential for more growth.

The report also shows strong signs that budget cuts for traditional advertising and sales promotions are beginning to ease, as downward revisions are the smallest since the spiral began in Q2 of 2005, and are considerably below reductions highlighted in the previous two quarters. Wayne Arnold, Chairman of IPA Digital said: "The latest Bellwether survey continues to confirm that Internet advertising is rapidly becoming an integral part of any marketer's communication mix."