Digital advertising in Western Europe - statistics & facts

The European advertising landscape is constantly evolving to meet consumer needs and expectations. This dynamic is especially true for Western Europe, where technological advances and infrastructural leaps have allowed advertisers to embrace one of the most fundamental shifts in consumer behavior: the switch from traditional to digital media and content. Data showed that internet advertising spending in Western Europe has increased more than fourfold in the past decade, reaching roughly 90.5 billion euros in 2022. Not only that, but this record figure also represented nearly 18 percent of total global expenditures, making Western Europe the third-largest market behind North America and the Asia-Pacific region. By comparison, digital advertising activity in Central and Eastern Europe is still in a comparatively nascent stage.

Digital advertising spending: the only way is up

Spending on digital advertising is rapidly expanding across most of Western Europe. In the United Kingdom, the largest digital advertising market in Western Europe, companies devoted close to 23.5 billion British pounds to digital ad campaigns in 2021. This sum translated to nearly 70 percent of total advertising investments. A similar shift towards digital can be observed in France, Spain, and Italy, where the internet has long surpassed traditional media in terms of advertising investments or will do so in the next few years. Germany’s advertising industry, on the other hand, is an interesting outlier in terms of budget allocation. Even though online ad revenue in Germany keeps soaring, the latest reported figure of 10 billion euros only accounts for a relatively small piece of the country’s advertising pie as television and print media remain the cream of the crop.

Different markets, similar approaches

Search and display (banner and video) were the top digital ad formats in Western Europe in 2023, drawing an estimated 49.4 billion and 42.5 billion euros in spending. Data showed that the focus on these two formats correlates with global industry trends and mirrors consumer behavior and preferences across the region. Millions of online users from Western Europe use search engines and watch video content on a daily basis, explaining why companies are promoting their products and services via these channels more actively each year. Not only that, but advertisers across most of Western Europe also go with another global digital flow, namely the shift towards mobile. In 2022, mobile advertising revenue in the UK reached an all-time high of 15.06 billion British pounds, with nearly 60 percent of all ad investments flowing toward mobile. This share stood at 44 percent in France that year, while countries like Germany or Italy have not been equally as quick to embrace a mobile-first advertising attitude.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Jan 10, 2024

Key insights

Digital ad revenue worldwide
522bn USD
Digital ad spend in Western Europe
82.62bn USD
Largest digital ad market in (Western) Europe
United Kingdom
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Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Internet advertising spending in Western Europe from 2000 to 2024 (in million U.S. dollars)

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Online advertising spending in Western Europe 2000-2024

Digital advertising spending in Europe in 2022, by country (in million euros)

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Largest digital advertising markets in Europe 2022

Digital advertising spending per capita in Europe in 2021, by country (in euros)

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Digital advertising spending per capita in Europe 2021, by country

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France

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Spain

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