How will online advertising hold up in our declining economy?

November 3, 2008 at 10:18 am · Filed under Advertising and tagged: Add new tag

Well, most speculate. eMarketer, in their latest predictions, project online advertising spend will grow from $24.5 billion in 2008 to $28.5 billion in 2009. This claim is generally supported by many other analysts:

Even those who disbelieve that online advertising will fare well in the recession, they believe that it will still grow, just at a lower rate than previously mentioned. In my opinion, retailers everywhere are going to try to drive costs down by cutting spend wherever they can and looking for more cost-efficient solutions. And how much cheaper does the internet get? eMarketer sums up this nice, succinct side of the argument withe the following seven points:

1. The Internet is inherently more measurable and accountable than are traditional channels.
2. The Internet allows for better, more-granular targeting than do other forms of media. That reduces media waste and can save marketing dollars.
3. The Internet is interactive, thereby allowing for a higher degree of engagement with consumer and business prospects and customers.
4. Particularly among younger consumers, the Internet is accounting for a larger and larger share of total media time; numerous studies demonstrate that teens, millennials and other younger cohorts are spending more time online per week than they are watching television.
5. The Internet plays into the consumer-in-control movement and therefore provides new opportunities for marketers to be a part of their conversations about interests, attitudes, shopping plans and even brands.
6. New Web 2.0 phenomena such as blogs, social networks and Twitter provide marketers with the potential to gain rich insights into consumer behavior and attitudes (the Internet is like a perpetual focus group on steroids).
7. The Internet, unlike any other medium or channel, allows marketers to reach prospects throughout the entire consumer buying cycle, from initial awareness through pre-information-gathering to sales and post-sale feedback and support.

Don’t know about you, but time for me to start doing some online holiday shopping!

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