The online advertisement market outperformed that of traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and radio last year, becoming the second strongest platform for advertising following television.

The global increase of internet users paints an even brighter future for the industry, which is showing incremental growth thanks to the diversification of platforms including new media, the Korea Creative Content Agency said Monday, releasing the latest statistics on the advertising market. 

According to the report, based on research from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2012, the online advertisement market marked 1.66 trillion won, larger than newspapers with 82 billion won, magazines at 32.6 billion won and 28 billion won for radio. Advertising on television marked 2.89 trillion won, the largest. The total size of the advertisement market has increased to 12.4 trillion won from 12.1 trillion won in the previous year.

“While the traditional print media market is declining, advertisers are finding the Internet, including websites, social media and others avenues, attractive,” a KOCCA official said. In fact, the advertisement market for TV, radio and print media showed a slight fall, from 3.6 trillion won in 2011 to 3.5 trillion won while that of the so-called new media marked a rise, from 2.8 trillion won to 3.2 trillion won.

Surprisingly, the mobile sector, which was expected to show phenomenal growth due to the fact that 2 out of every 3 Koreans own smartphones, has shown a disappointing outcome. Its market marked a mere 5.4 billion won.

“Advertisers are still doubtful about the effectiveness of mobile sites. Therefore, they tend to demand direct results such as the actual number of people who clicked on the mobile advertisement. It is still a tough area,” the official said.

The authorities forecast a sustained boom in online advertisement as more people are relying on the Internet than traditional media platforms.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)