Online advertising reached $99bn last year, up 16% on 2011 and accounting for nearly 20% of all global advertising expenditure, says a report by Group M.

The report, entitled 'This Year, Next Year: Interaction 2013', was released by London-based GroupM Futures Director Adam Smith and New York-based Global Chief Digital Officer Rob Norman, is part of GroupM’s media and marketing forecasting series drawn from data supplied by parent company WPP.


The study predicts that 2013 digital ad spending will reach $113.5 billion globally, 14.6% higher than last year. In the 2013 forecast, North America again ranks first with an estimated $42.8 billion in digital ad spend; Asia-Pacific follows with $36.8 billion, followed by Western Europe with $26.6 billion.

E-commerce per user will stand at $859 in 2013, a 64 percent increase since 2007. International e-commerce total adds up to $917 billion for 2012 with a run-rate of growth of 18 percent to a predicted $1.1 billion in 2013.