The European digital market grew by 30.5% to €92 billion in 2021 compared with the previous year, and a similar growth rate was also recorded in Croatia, market organisations IAB Croatia and HURA reported on Tuesday.

HURA is the Croatian Association of Communications Agencies, while IAB Croatia is the Croatian branch of IAB Europe, a leading European association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem.

IAB Europe has published the 2021 Advertising Expenditure Benchmark Report, assessing investment in online advertising in 28 European markets.

The report estimated last year’s online advertising expenditure in Croatia at €89.97 million, saying that the Croatian digital market grew at a similar rate as the European average and was expected to continue to grow this year by around 8%.

All 28 markets covered in the study recorded double-digit growth, while seven markets grew above the average growth rate of 30.5%, the highest growth rate since 2008. IAB Europe had forecast a growth rate of 28.6% for 2021.

The United Kingdom, Germany and France were leaders in online advertising expenditure, while some large markets lagged behind the European average of €115 spent on online advertising per capita, for example Spain at €92 and Poland at €38.