Marketers getting more confident about online advertising

Marketers are getting increasingly confident about the future, with many expecting to boost their marketing budgets in the short term.

According to new figures from marketing expert Warc, which looks at global marketing trends, some nations are already in recovery mode when it comes to marketing expenditure.

Unsurprisingly digital and online advertising is the main focus for many firms' marketing departments and budgets are being allocated accordingly.

Warc's latest survey shows that the US is still driving growth in terms of marketing expenditure. While other nations were lagging behind, the organisation's Global Marketing Index (GMI) has swung into positive territory across the board.

What's more, online advertising was by far the best performing.

"While Europe still lags other global regions, in line with macro trends, February data indicates improving conditions," Warc claimed.

The organisation added: "TV marketing remains resilient as digital and mobile benefit at the expense of other traditional channels."

It seems that the trend for digital advertising is going to continue for the foreseeable future.

"The assignment of marketing budgets across main media channels remains consistent with previous months' findings. Digital (excluding mobile) and mobile continue to gain spend in February, with index scores of 80.5 and 72.1 respectively," Warc noted.

The shaky performance of marketing - albeit one that is steadily improving - was blamed on wider economic issues.

Warc noted that the European debt crisis, the Greek bailout and subdued international trade were all causing marketers to assess their budgets carefully.

Digital was winning out because campaigns can be quickly tailored and costs easily monitored. It is also very easy to set budgetary targets with online advertising.

The online advertising market has also been undergoing some technical changes as well, with Google overhauling the way in which companies bid on its mobile advertising space through the AdMob network.