'Net Features : online ads

Online Ad Market Looks Healthy

Mike Phillips — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:00:00 GMT

A study released by ZenithOptimedia shows that global ad spend is bouncing back from 2009 lulls, particularly on the online medium.

The forecast predicts online to account for 17 percent of total ad spend by 2012 - just two percentage points behind steadily-declining newspaper ad spend. The main driver remains paid search (50.2 percent of all online ad spend) but ZenithOptimedia predicts that emerging formats like video, mobile and social media will "...help display stablize its share."

The most rapid ad growth is taking place with mobile. They predict an average growth rate of 43.2 percent per year until 2012. Social media advertising is predicted to grow 30.2 percent during the same period. Growth rate for Internet advertising as a whole is predicted at 15.6 percent.

Online Ad Revenue Down in Q1

Mike Phillips — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:04:00 GMT

It shouldn't be a big surprise, but online ad revenue dipped in Q1 2009 - five percent, to $5.5 billion, according to the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Just like every other economic environment, advertising has been hit by the recession. But the good news is that these numbers in no way suggest a drop in the overall marketplace. Quite the contrary, in fact.

As PricewaterhouseCoopers' David Silverman said, "Current economic conditions are clearly challenging. Nonetheless, interactive media continues to consume a larger piece of the overall advertising pie."

More news out of the IAB also references the growing trend of advertisers experimenting with mobile search ads. This market is expected to grow close to 30 percent this year, with Google and Yahoo! leading the way.

SMBs Spending Record Amounts Online

Mike Phillips — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are responsible for more than half of the U.S. locally-targeted online ad spend, according to "Main Street Goes Interactive," a report from Borrell Associates. In total, SMB online ad spend ($6.8 billion in 2008) is accounting for 11 percent of their advertising budget - that's nearly triple what it was three years ago.

However, if you drill down, you will find out that an SMB definition of advertising includes money spent on their own websites - hinting that many are looking at their websites as one big advertisement, not a critical arm of their business. If that's the case, SMBs could be missing out on big opportunities to sell their products or services, rather than just have a logo and contact information on a static page.

Of those aggressively promoting their businesses online, the report shows that only 42 percent of respondents said that display advertising performed "strongly" for their business, while 56 percent felt strongly about search, and 80 percent about e-mail. Also on the rise for these companies is spending on search engine advertising, online directory listings and streaming video.