Online advertising is still growing, as shown in the IAB’s recent research with Pricewaterhouse Coopers and the World Advertising Research Centre.  For the first time online has overtaken TV as the single biggest advertising medium – online now has 23% market share compared to TV’s 21.9%.  All online advertising (search, display and classified) has grown by 4.6% in the first half of the year even though the overall advertising market is down 16.6% in the same period. 

This can be attributed to 2 main factors - advertisers following their customers online and an increasing need for measurability.

However the figures disguise the fall of display online advertising which is down by 5.2% year on year.   

Although display is down, 2009 has seen some positive moves online.  For example Burberry are dominating the magazine websites with interactive formats such as the roll over double MPU’s on Elleuk.com, back stage videos and display advertising - they could be seen as trailblazers for the fashion and luxury sector thinking of investing more online.  With display advertising set to rise 3% year on year in 2010 there could be more luxury and fashion brands taking the leap to online display for Spring/Summer 2010.

By: Catriona Deery

Posted in Advertising, Online | 1 Comment »

The Government owned Met Office has just announced that it is to open up it’s site to advertisers

Although the Met Office site lags behind BBC Weather in terms of popularity, it still boasts over 2 million page views per day and up to 19 million visits during severe weather. And the profile, average age 39 and income £37 100, is certainly attractively upmarket.

The 2 obvious weather dependent categories are travel and fashion and there must be ways that they can capitalise on a commercial partnership with such an erudite and respected body as the Met Office.

Advance warning of a sizzling Summer or a cold snap carefully tied to promotion of Spring/Summer or Autumn Winter collections would be one way to leverage an relationship.  It’s just a pity that more overt fashion ties with some of more glamorous presenters aren’t possible.

From a travel perspective, contrasting poor UK weekend weather with warmer conditions overseas around key holidays times (Bank Holidays, Half Terms) could stimulate the purchase for those companies offering overseas breaks. The first few flakes of alpine snow and or longer term reports of long term snowfall could drive relevant traffic to ski and alpine activity companies.

In short, the more clever and fast moving that advertisers can be, and the more flexible the Met Office can be in terms of what it allows advertisers to do, the more successful a commercial advertising medium this could become.  And surely an organisation which aims to be on top of something as mercurial as the weather will be flexible with commercial partners who approach them with innovative ideas.

By: Graham Painter

Posted in Advertising, Online | No Comments »

Advertisers continue to venture online more, as the aim of advertising has shifted towards driving sales. Newspaper and magazine sites have to date offered the right brand associations and environment for premium and fashion advertisers, but the numbers can be comparatively small. To effectively deliver performance based online advertising, online advertisers are increasingly looking to target their audiences rather than just specific sites. Online networks and ad exchanges are allowing the targeting of specific audiences on a wealth of criteria from age, geography and gender, delivering audiences in significant enough numbers to make the necessary impact on sales. The pricing models are equally attractive and flexible, with the ability to buy on a traditional cost Per Thousand impacts (CPM) , Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).

Magazine online portals are faring well also; this year has seen Condé Nast’s Brides relaunch as well as IPC’s Marie Claire and InStyle with much-improved sites.  The larger, more impactful formats such as the double MPU’s and double Skys are encouraging more premium and fashion brands to run online brand advertising as they allow a more powerful brand presence and produce better than average click through rates.

By: Catriona Deery

Posted in Advertising, Online | No Comments »