Yesterday’s announcement by the IAB that online advertising continues to grow is great news for the industry in these uncertain times.
In the statement we learn that in the first six months of 2008 advertisers spent nearly £1.7B on internet marketing bringing the total share of advertising spend in the UK to 19%.
Needless to say “search” grabbed the lions share growing 28% year on year to claim over 58% of the digital media mix.
Writing on the adCenter Blog yesterday, I was keen to hint that there’s still some way to go yet.
The first half of 2008 was over three months ago and things have got a lot worse in the world.
But the indications are that online and search will still see growth in this half of 2008 as marketers are made more accountable by their superiors, and so in turn plough money into where the accountability is.......and that’s online!
I was at a conference last week - www.nmalive.co.uk - speaking about search and the downturn – the advice was to hold tight and keep your nerve.
A downturn is the perfect time to experiment, learn and build for the future when all this hullabaloo gets sorted out.
Some advertisers will have undoubtedly been spooked and pulled some budgets or lowered CPCs – it’s a shame but it gives others the chance to leap in and capitalise.
Check out this quote from the IMRG:
“Highlighting the current economic slowdown as the key influencing factor, 68% of shoppers said that they are more likely to shop online for Christmas presents this year, with 77% of shoppers planning to carry out about half or more of their Christmas shopping online (in 2007 it was 56%).
This is influenced by the belief in the competitive prices available online, with 79% of respondents satisfied with the competitive pricing available from e-retailers.”
Your customers are going to be online this Christmas............will you?
