According to the latest IPA/BDO Bellwether survey, web advertising was the only category to see an increase in spending during the three months to the end of September 2009, with declines being witnessed across other forms of more traditional marketing media. 

 

And the results also showed that business confidence is improving, with 47 per cent of the firms questioned stating that their prospects are growing as the economy does likewise - something that could result in web marketing investment increasing further. 

Mark Fagan, IPA search chairman and digital media director at Golley Slater, commented that the results are favourable for marketing through search engines such as Google and Bing. "The latest Bellwether report shows that search continues to drive great returns for advertisers in the UK," he remarked, adding that it will be "interesting to see" whether the amount of search-related marketing being used by firms continues to rise as the economy returns to growth.

Earlier this month, a study by StatCounter found that Google recorded 90.54 per cent of the global search market during September, with Bing and Yahoo! accounting for 3.25 per cent and 4.37 per cent respectively.