A report from the Internet Advertising Bureau has revealed that UK digital ad spend has broken the £5bn barrier for the first time - a 12.5% surge of £607m from 2011's spend of £4.81bn.

The biggest surprise amongst the data was the huge upturn in mobile ad spend - up 148% from 2011's £203.2m to the figure of £526m in 2012. The £332.7m increase in mobile ad spend represents 53% of the total £607.3m increase in total digital ad spend, showing digital marketers are diversifying more and more of their budgets away from traditional mediums.


Similarly, social media advertising ad spend was up 25%, a total to £328.4m, up 383% since 2010.

Paid search, accounting 55% of ad spend, saw a 14.5% e increase to £3.17bn from £2.77bn in 2011.


“Mobile has reached this milestone because marketers are becoming more attuned to the ‘always on’ nature of consumers who expect to engage with content wherever they are," said Tim Elkington, Director of Research & Strategy at the Internet Advertising Bureau.

"Consequently, advertisers are increasingly buying integrated campaigns across online and mobile rather than regarding mobile as an afterthought.”

"There's simply so much buzz around mobile. In the last six months, 20 more of the UK’s top 100 advertisers have produced mobile-optimised websites; 4G mobile ultra-broadband is enabling a new era of richer content consumption with tablets predicted to outsell PCs in 2013. This will help maintain mobile’s significant momentum in attracting both consumer attention and advertising pounds.”

You can read the full IAB report here.