The new quarterly report from IAB Australia shows that the national online advertising market continues to record strong growth with expenditure for the March quarter 2010 growing by 17% year on year. The figures have been compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and record online expenditure for the first three months of 2010 at $512.5 million, although this is the same level as the fourth quarter of 2009.

The classifieds and search and directories categories delivered significant growth in comparison with the prior quarter, however, this was balanced by a reduction in the general display market, which reflects the usual seasonality of the first quarter of each calendar year. However, the decline was less than the historical average, which indicates the strength of the general display market and the ongoing strength of the online market in general compared to other forms of advertising.

Classified advertising and search and directories advertising were the key growth drivers during the quarter, growing by 9.4% and 2% respectively, while general display declined by 11.1% on the prior quarter. Search and directories advertising continued to account for the largest share of total advertising expenditure, representing 51.7% of the market or $264.75 million. General display accounting for 24.6% ($126m) and classified advertising accounting for 23.8% ($121.75m) during the quarter.