Almost €960m was spent on digital ads in Ireland last year, up 11% year-on-year.
That is a considerably faster pace of growth than the 4% rise recorded in 2022, according to the IAB Ireland / PwC Online Adspend Study for 2023.
Digital display ads accounted for €589m of the spend last year, up 15%.
That was driven by video and digital audio, as well as paid social.
Advertising on paid social as a whole was up 19% year-on-year to €446m.
There had been suggestions last year that some advertisers were pulling back from spending on X, formerly known as Twitter, due to concerns about content moderation policies there.
However Suzanne McElligot, CEO of IAB Ireland, said it was not possible to see if that was happening in Ireland as their data did not give a platform-by-platform breakdown.
Despite that it is clear that platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are boosting video ad spending, which jumped 24% to €330m last year.
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“Video is a very much driving the growth – social video would have been [up] 24%,” said Suzanne McElligot, CEO of IAB Ireland. “But, good news for publishers and broadcasters as well, because their video – non-social video, if you like – grew by 20% year-on-year.
“PwC has been doing this study for IAB since 2010 and we can see that growth of video across other markets.”
Another growth area, according to Ms McElligot, has been digital audio.
“That has grown by 16% year-on-year,” she said. “It’s a predictor for further growth going forward, which is good news for all of us who enjoy this content.”