Hand over fist for Digital

Online was the only category to see an upward revision in marketing budgets in Q1 this year, according to the IPA's latest Bellwether Report.

Overall the outlook was bleak, with marketing budgets being revised down for the second quarter running. Direct marketing in particular was shown to be suffering, with its largest fall in eight years.

After last quarter's report which showed a slower than previous rise for internet marketing budgets, the sector showed recovery with 27% of respondents saying online ad budgets were up, compared to just 5% who said they were down.

The growth for online was fuelled by search, with 29% of respondents seeing increased spend within the area, compared to just 6% who saw a decrease.

Last week the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) also painted a positive picture for online, with ad spend topping £2.8bn in 2007.