Report: Tech/Electronics Q1 Search Ad Spending Surpasses Q4

Search ad spending among tech and electronics companies is way up so far in 2011, so much so that Q1 spending surpassed Q4 levels for the first time. That’s the word from Covario’s Global Search Advertising Spend Analysis, which tracks about $400 million in annual spending around the world.

Covario says Q1 spending was up 6% over the traditionally heavier Q4 period, and up 26% over Q1 of 2010. The huge year-over-year increase is mainly due to how weak spending was in Q1 2010.

Much of the growth is coming outside the US: Spending in both the Asia-Pacific and Europe-Middle East regions are up almost 50% over the past year. Consequently, Covario says, spending on Google is up 25% over the past year, spending on Yahoo is up 28%, and Bing — with its US focus — only saw a 4% increase in spending.