A new survey of Irish online spending shows that marketing decision-makers are moving more of their budgets online, with a majority committing over 10 per cent of their overall marketing spend to online advertising and promotion.

The survey, produced by online consultancy Amas, shows that Ireland is beginning to follow the US and British markets, where online advertising and promotional spend are experiencing explosive growth.

The finding are published in the latest quarterly bulletin of State of the Net.

It found that 56 per cent of marketing professionals spent more than 10 per cent of their budget online, and that e-mail campaigns were the most popular form of online advertising.

Search engine optimisation and banner advertising were the next most popular, with usage levels at 46 per cent and 41 per cent respectively.

Value for money and measurement were listed as the top reasons why marketing professionals use online marketing rather than other forms of marketing. Unsurprisingly, survey respondents stated that ‘‘optimising of reach’’ and measuring responses were the main reasons for using online.

Newer forms of online advertising are gaining in traction, according to the survey, with 20 per cent of marketers using blogs and social networks as part of their campaigns.

‘‘Marketing budgets are on the move and digital campaigns are favoured by marketing executives because they are highly cost-effective and accountable,” said Aileen O’Toole, managing director of Amas.

‘‘The survey shows that online’s gain has been at the expense of traditional media. Almost half of the sample said that they had moved spend from direct mail, while 44 per cent said that they had switched from press to online. With advertising budgets already under pressure from the economic downturn, online’s growth is a double whammy for traditional media companies.”

The survey assessed the extent to which marketers are moving budgets online, in line with trends in other more mature markets. The trend is particularly noticeable among SMEs - they demonstrate a greater conversion to online than the overall sample.

The autumn 2008 edition of State of the Net reported that web-based discussion forms had seen exponential growth. It took Boards.ie five and a half years to reach its first million posts, but now it gets that many posts every three months.

The latest edition also analysed broadband usage in the country. The number of broadband subscriptions passed the million mark earlier this year, with mobile subscriptions contributing 222,000.

Internet usage has improved, but users have been slow to catch on to internet phone calls. Skype and other internet telephony providers have yet to crack the Irish market, according to State of the Net’s latest edition.