Internet advertising is set to overtake national newspaper advertising in the UK by the end of the year, WPP media buying division Group M predicted yesterday.

Group M believes the Internet will account for 13.3% of the £12.2bn UK advertising market this year, sliding ahead of newspaper advertising which will be on a share of 13.2%.
The overall figure could be even larger given that the report excludes the estimated £1bn spent on affiliate
advertising.


The reason for the migration to Internet advertising has been attributed to the rise of broadband and the decline of newspaper circulation, in particular the tabloids, with celebrity magazines taking a lion's share of the tabloid classified revenue.
The Group M report, to be published in full next month, goes on to predict that advertising on mobile platforms will experience the next growth spurt.


"Mobile advertising is at the start of the growth curve like that of the Internet, which initially grew at annual rates
of up to 200%."