The Internet Advertising Bureau's latest report into advertising expenditure has revealed a 12.6% rise in digital ad-spend totalling £2.6bn for the first six months of 2012, up £294m from £2.3bn in the previous year.
The economic downturn the has plagued Britain and the Euro-zone since 2008, yet digital marketing has continued to thrive.
 

Paid-for search marketing is incredibly attractive to marketers with an easily measurable ROI - particularly when budgets are tight.

According the IAB report:

"Year-on-year, search increased 15.9% on a like-for-like basis to £1,527 million from £1,318 million – representing a 59% share of digital advertising.
"Fuelled by smartphone ownership hitting 58% of the UK population in June 2012, mobile advertising continued its meteoric rise, growing like-for-like by 132% to £181.5 million in the first half of 2012. Mobile now accounts for 7% of all digital ad spend."

Tim Elkington, Director of Research & Strategy at the Internet Advertising Bureau, says: “Almost 60% of people in the UK have a smartphone, average UK household broadband speed is now 9MB and social media accounts for one fifth of all internet time. As digital technology and services evolve to make consumers’ lives easier, more connected and more fun, it’s no surprise that advertisers are coming to the digital party with bigger budgets, despite the challenging economic times elsewhere.

You can read the full report from the IAB here.