Social networking sites account for over a quarter of all display ads viewed online in the UK, a new report has revealed. Research from comScore found that a total of 13.8 billion display ad impressions occurred on sites such as Facebook and MySpace during August of this year, more than 25 per cent of the total figure.

The majority of these adverts were provided by companies in the telecommunications sector, which contributed more than 949 million impressions during the month - the equivalent of seven per cent of all adverts. Social media marketing was also popular with the retail industry, with companies such as John Lewis, Tesco and DFS accounting for 753 views.

Managing director for comScore Europe Mike Read explained that the data suggests that "every demographic segment is reached via social networking sites", something that internet marketing consultants may wish to consider.  Advertisers that choose to ignore the channel may be missing out on a "significant opportunity" to gain an advantage over their competitors, he added.

Earlier this week, eMarketer analyst Jeffrey Grau urged internet retailers to focus their attention on promoting themselves through social media networks.