A recent report by Group M demonstrates that they have read their crystal ball and determined that given current growth patterns in spending on TV advertising and internet, there will be more spent online by 2009.
There is a good breakdown of the data by eMarketer and a really nice analysis of why this should happen in the UK particularly. The TV market in the UK certainly seems to be anomalous, which is what is giving rise to the potential overtaking in spend, compared to the rest of the world.
Karin von Abrams, the analyst, also points out that in the UK we have had good, concrete examples of online spending that has worked, and this breeds further investment. I know that in terms of website marketing, the UK is a mature market; it has always been amongst the top countries for internet penetration, use and spending. The National Statistics site has some great up to date information from 2007 about how many UK households have internet access, which is now up to 61%.
Vertical Leap are certainly noticing a greater maturity in the clients coming to us for UK SEO services, they are more knowledgeable about what they want and what they need to succeed online.
