Sydney Australia March
2004
Brand/Marketing/Category managers/Media
Buyers special press release.
ONLINE ADVERTISING IN
AUSTRALIA GOES BALLISTIC
"The Australian public is online and advertising in this
sector is increasing in leaps and bounds as brands discover the
advantages of talking directly to targeted attentive online
audiences at a reasonable cost"
Paraphrased courtesy of
Adnews: Jan '04
“Online advertising is set to outgrow the
out-of-home sector with research by online advertising specialist
emitch and Roy Morgan research forecasting that
total online spend this year will reach 6% of total advertising
spend, up from 4% of total advertising spend….the research
which surveyed 150 advertisers in addition to agencies and online
publishers revealed the proportion of advertisers using online
methods is expected to rise from 57% in 2003 to 66% in
2004. Advertisers are more likely to use general or display
advertising (which is what VHC does), allocating over 67%
of expenditure to these formats ahead of search and directories.
“The results reveal a positive attitude towards online medium
generally” said Stuart Simson, executive chairman of emitch………we
are seeing advertisers embracing online advertising at a
significant rate ………the increase to 6% means online advertising is
starting to rival traditional mainstream media in terms of
share……..total online advertising spend was over
$200million……will grow above $250m in 2004.
According to survey respondents, the main strengths are
targeting capabilities and cost-effectiveness……..”.
(Footnote: We would add ‘immediacy’
as online does not have deadline issues, so products can be
prelaunched and campaigns can be tested within
days).
Sites which
deal with contextual fundamental human needs (e.g. health, beauty,
law etc) are king and have huge universal appeal. Virtualhaircare
is exactly similar to this example for the beauty sector plus the
resource contains specific medical related
advice.
“Medical
and Health product marketers may need to commit larger portions
of their spend to online advertising with research showing
that 1.4million Australians regard the Internet as their
preferred media for sourcing medical and health
information”. (Source ACNeilson and Adnews 12th of March
2004)
Overseas results in England
and USA are way higher and Australia is starting to exhibit the
same trends. Britain's New Media News reported it this
way:
Some time early last winter, the tide turned in favour
of new media. Significant growth was reported in online
advertising spend and agencies reported a jump in the amount of
work. Now hardly a week goes by without New Media Age reporting
research that reinforces the message that the interactive media
sector is emerging from the post-crash era. And this time the
growth is based on sound fundamentals and sustainable businesses.
(Courtesy: New Media Age Magazine)
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