Internet advertising spend increases 9.7% year on year to reach $4.6 billion in September 2025 quarter
The Australian internet advertising market has continued to grow, reaching $4.6bn for the September 2025 quarter, an increase of 9.7% on the September 2024 quarter which had been buoyed by the Summer Olympics. The data which comes from the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report (IARR) released today, also showed the local market remained flat relative to the June 2025 quarter which had experienced elevated Federal Election advertising spend.
Search advertising expenditure increased 12.0% year on year to reach $2,005m for the September quarter, while video advertising continued to outperform the broader display advertising market, growing 16.7% year on year to reach $1,347m. Classified advertising increased by a modest 0.9% year on year to reach $768m and audio advertising had modest growth with a 3.5% increase year on year to reach $82m. Display advertising, excluding video, dipped by 1.5% year on year to reach $497m.
Video represented nearly 73% of the total general display spend in the September quarter, with social video investment experiencing the fastest growth within the video category at 29.4% year on year.
Gai Le Roy CEO of IAB Australia commented: “Growth in the Australian digital ad market continues to be driven particularly by social, video and search. It has again been a tough quarter for many local publishers, with display revenue (including in-feed) down 1.5% year-on-year and standard display down 6.8%. This fragmentation in spend does, however, provide opportunities for marketers to diversify their investment across a broader range of environments.”
Home products entered the top five display advertiser investment categories for the first time with a 5.6% share, nudging out travel. Retail remained the top performing category with 16.8% share, followed by automotive at 13.7%, entertainment and media at 10.8% and finance at 9.4% share.
Connected TV grew its share of video investment with content publishers and local broadcasters this quarter, increasing to 62% of spend in the September quarter, supported by winter sports coverage. Desktop investment continued to decline to 24%, while mobile expenditure edged up slightly to a 14% share.
Images:
Top Five General Display Industry Categories – Expenditure
/ Ends
About the Interactive Advertising Bureau
IAB an independent industry association with nearly 9,000 members globally spanning media owners, publishers, technology companies, agencies, and advertisers. It works to align industry stakeholders to develop solutions for the issues faced by the market and develop standards that are integral to the operation of digital advertising.
As one of 45 IAB offices globally, the role of the IAB is to support sustainable and diverse investment in digital advertising across all platforms in Australia as well as demonstrating to marketers and agencies the many ways digital advertising can deliver on business objectives.