Online advertising overtakes TV advertising

The recession has caused overall advertising spending to slide by 16% between January and June 2009, but the big news seems to be the switch in the use of advertising media, which spells big trouble for firms like ITV.

E-mail campaigns, classified adverts, display ads and search marketing are all classed as “online advertising”. When added together, spending on these forms of advertising is now greater than spending on TV adverts.

Here are some of the possible reasons explaining the trend, and an accompanying video clip:

And it’s not just bad news for TV broadcasters. The trend spells trouble for all the traditional media such as print and radio, as well as television.

The BBC is carrying this story and quotes one insider who said that the tough economic times had led to a significant fall in TV advertising spending, which allowed online advertising to overtake TV about a year earlier than most had expected. “It had to happen eventually, but online advertising has been seen as the poor cousin to TV for so long that it’s still a huge milestone.”

The factors given to explain the success of online advertising were:

Direct response: Can measure success of advertising
Video: Multi-media content makes the internet more engaging
E-commerce: People taking to the internet to find bargains, especially in recession
Faster, cheaper broadband: A wider audience who advertisers can provide with richer content

However, the marketing body for the main UK commercial television broadcasters, said the figures did not compare like with like. A spokesman said “Online marketing spend is made up of many things including e-mail, classified ads, display ads and, overwhelmingly, search marketing. They should be judged individually,”

There’s an interesting video clip here and an accompanying article on what makes a great online ad.