UK digital ad spend achieves fastest growth in seven years

UK digital advertising expenditure grew by 16.4% to reach a record £8.6 billion (€10.8 billion) last year, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.

According to research by the IAB, the year-on-year was the hightest rate of growth since 2008, when digital ad spend grew by 17.1%. The IAB suggests that the strong growth was in part driven by a 12% rise in the number of internet-connected devices per household, with each UK home now having an average of 8.3 connected devices.

Connected TVs saw the biggest rise in ownership, growing by 27%, followed by smartphones at 21%.

Laptop growth outpaced that of tablets, with ownership rising by 18% against 16% for tablets.

Each UK home has an average of 2.1 smartphones, 1.6 laptops and 1.4 tablets, according to the statistics.