Feature: Online Advertising Comes Of Age
“2001 was the year of internet advertising”, according to chairman of the IAB, Danny Meadows-Klue, who says that online is becoming an increasingly popular choice for brands struggling to cope with tightening marketing budgets.
Figures from online advertising monitor, LemonAd, show that more than 64,000 electronic ad campaigns were run during the course of 2001 and with the figure for 2002 expected to be significantly higher, Meadows-Klue is convinced that internet advertising has finally come of age. He said: “Online is now fixed in media schedules for brand campaigns. The range of new standards has made the industry an efficient and easy buy and effective targeting along with the unparalleled accountability of the medium mean that advertisers are continuing to move their spend into the sector.”
Month on month analysis of 2001’s online marketing activity (see below) shows that the industry was flying high for the first three months of the year, with the number of campaigns during January, February and March well in excess of 5,400. However, by April confidence in the medium began to falter and the amount of online marketing activity dipped to below 5,300. The industry appeared to return to form in June with the number of online campaigns reaching its highest point of the year (over 5,600). This coincided with the launch of a series of IAB initiatives to improve the professionalism of the industry and eradicate what ISBA’s Bob Wootton termed “commercial anarchy for advertisers.”
The New Media sector saw ad revenue exceed £90m during the first half of 2001 and overall, the industry showed an increase of 42% or £26m on the same period in 2000. According to the IAB, this was largely due to the surge in banner advertising and the introduction of additional media formats such as interstituals, sponsorships, tenancies and nested content, which attracted advertisers to the medium.
During the second half of the year the number of online campaigns running each month dropped as the worsening economic climate led to shrinking marketing budgets. This became evident in August with the number of campaigns slipping to just above 5,000 and in the weeks following the events of 11 September the industry was said to be in full retreat. However, according to LemonAd, a growing number of advertisers are turning to the medium in the face of the difficult times and with figures for the last few months of the year picking up, 2002 is expected to be a prosperous year.
The IAB, which continues to push for greater accountability within the industry, is convinced that the internet has finally proved is worth as an advertising medium. Meadows-Klue said: “As budgets tighten, online lets advertisers plan with precision accuracy how to deliver and monitor campaigns. The medium, which only started carrying its first test adverts a few years ago, has well and truly risen to the challenge.”
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