The UK is a leader in online advertising, and in addition to it being a good market to watch and reach certain conclusions about other market’s development such as the U.S, Canada and France, it has seen some rise in this sector as this eMarketer report highlights.

“Display ad impressions (excluding video) rose even more steeply than spending between Q3 2009 and one year later, to judge by figures from comScore Ad Metrix. This suggests that advertisers were getting much better value for their display budgets in 2010, which doubtless encouraged more committed spending.

Classified ads also staged a comeback in 2010, the IAB reported, climbing 11.4% to £379 million ($595 million) during the first half of the year. Paid search marketing rose by 8.9%, to claim 59.9% of all online ad spending, or just over £1,180 million ($1,853 million).

The IAB saw the double-digit rise in online ad spending as part of a more general recovery; by its calculations, total UK ad spending reached £8.1 million ($12.7 million) in H1 2010, 6.3% higher than spending in the first half of 2009.”

eMarketer’s report highlighted 3 specific market aspects causing this uncertain market, including the unpredictable economic situation, the current positive customer behavior and mood during holiday shopping, as well as the growth in total ad spending.  And the display ad segment is  only expected to grow even further.

The two first factors – the economy and customers’ behavior – are the key influencers in advertising, as this is exactly why customer metrics and localized marketing carry an important role expressing itself in greater cost-efficiency and targeting accuracy.

The ad industry is shifting, and as it gets more and more involved with individualized data it will need to become equally and increasingly regulated to securely sustain itself. As we discuss here, Google too falls prey to shifting trends, as it’s being investigated by the EU regarding the way it monetizes search and display advertising,  with a probe determining whether or not it made it intentionally difficult for competitors to post ads via Google.