Social Network Penetration In Western Europe, 2012-2018 [CHART]

eMarketer estimates that social network ad spending—including display, search, video and other forms of ads appearing within social sites, social games and social applications—will reach $2.54 billion, or 8.0% of digital ad spending, in Western Europe this year, for an annual gain of more than 21%. Even greater growth will be seen in 2015, as social sites claim an estimated 9.1% of Western Europe’s digital ad investments, according to a new eMarketer report, “Western Europe Social Networking Trends: Ad Spending Trails Rising Consumer Usage.”

Yet by any measure, ad spending on social networks still lags well behind what one might expect considering the size and growth of the region’s social audience and the importance most of those users attach to social media. eMarketer projects the number of social network users in Western Europe to pass 178 million this year, as nearly 60% of internet users—equivalent to 42.6% of the population—visit a social site via some device at least monthly. Read the rest at eMarketer.