Internet-based advertising grew sharply in the first quarter, with a 36 per cent increase in spending and a greater number of online campaigns compared with a year ago.
Online advertising spending in the typically slow first three months of the year remained strong to reach HK$234 million from HK$172 million, according to the latest report from Nielsen Online.
'All major indicators from the first quarter suggest that advertisers are more confident in turning to online advertising as our economy remains buoyant,' Joseph Kam, the commercial director at Nielsen Online Hong Kong and Taiwan, said yesterday.
A total of 4,301 local marketing and promotion campaigns from 1,228 advertisers were conducted over the internet, an increase of 31 per cent on the 3,283 campaigns by 1,057 advertisers last year. Nielsen monitored display advertising on Hong Kong's top 300 websites, including Yahoo, Facebook and TVB.
Of the 16 categories tracked, the biggest spenders were companies in the finance, entertainment, and computer and consumer electronics business. The three sectors accounted for about half of the online advertising market in the first quarter.
Finance, led by campaigns from Citigroup and American Express, accounted for HK$48 million or 21 per cent of the market. Entertainment advertising was worth HK$42 million, while HK$26 million came from the computer and consumer electronics sector.