Britain's continued broadband love affair is contributing to the growth of pay-per-click advertising, according to a new report.

Key Note Publications' Internet Advertising Market Assessment 2008 study predicts that online advertising expenditure will grow by 31.4 per cent by the end of the year.

The ability to show media-rich ads over a broadband connection has been found to put marketers at an advantage, with more than half of consumers more likely to click on such commercials, the publication found.

"We forecast that the internet advertising market will continue to expand at a strong pace in the immediate future and that it will experience a less steep but steady momentum thereafter to 2012," said Key Note Publications in a statement.

A recent study into Western European Broadband Markets by consultancy Solon found that the UK has a broadband penetration of 61.3 per cent.