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IABNZ Q4 Revenue Report: digital revenue exceeds $1 billion in 2018

IABNZ’s Internet Advertising Report for Q4 2018 has been a released, with total digital revenue in 2018 reaching $1.058 billion following four consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. The total represents nearly 15 percent growth year-on-year.

The survey is conducted independently by Staples Rodway on behalf of IABNZ each quarter, with data compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling online advertising. The latest report confirms that Q4 revenue reached $292.4 million – up 14 percent on last year’s Q4 results. 

Search revenue reached $6.59.5 million in 2018, and together with classified/directories, the categories continue to dominate. Combined, search and classifed/directories achieved more than 80 percent of the total revenue in 2018, with both categories growing year-on-year and remainly relatively consistent with performance in the December quarter. 

Within the total display category for the year, growth was underpinned by native at 60 percent proving that it has become an important component of many advertisers’ marketing repertoire. Sponsorship followed at 32 percent and Video at 16 percent. Audio also performed well, with year-on-year growth of 84.6 percent, albeit off a much lower base.   

The largest shift in display revenue by advertiser category was real estate, recording a year-on-year increase of 134 percent.

Mobile revenue (all devices) generated $21.7m, making up 7.4 percent of total revenue in the December quarter, of this, smartphone revenue reached $19.1m. Total mobile, however, achieved growth of 24 percent year-on-year in 2018, of which smartphone’s growth was 26 percent.    

Programmatic revenue, sourced from Standard Media Index (SMI) which is agency spend only, and net of Google Ad Manager, realised $23.4m in the quarter, or 53.5 percent of total display revenue. It grew by more than 46 percent in Q4 year-on-year, and 41 percent across the entire year with 2018 revenue reaching $74.3 million.

Future State Consultancy director Richard Thompson says as programmatic media normalises in the industry, it is no suprise to see its growth in popularity for advertisers.

“The initial hype around programmatic has fallen away and we’re left with the original premise that more efficient and effective media targeting will drive better outcomes for advertisers.  We also see the growth in programmatic as a good sign that advertisers are becoming more confident in the transparency of their agency and technology relationships.”

Social media revenue recorded $11.7m in Q4, and decreased 11.5 percent year-on-year. While IABNZ currently only uses SMI data to measure social media revenue – which only incorporates a part of New Zealand agency revenue – the team is reviewing the methodology to better measure social media revenue. The expanded results will be incorporated in the next IABNZ Digital Advertising Revenue Report for Q1 2019.   

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