Financial crisis “a great opportunity for online”

On the panel at the Nielsen Online sponsored event was Trevor Johnson, planning and strategy, EMEA at Facebook, who said that as the online industry is in a better position to show a return than other media, the looming recession is a good time for it to show its strengths.

In broad agreement was fellow panelist Chris Maples, head of sales at MSN UK. “I think the next two years of difficult economic times could be the best thing that has happened to online,” he said.

“Organisations with robust business models will continue to survive,” he added. “The economic downturn will rationalise the business.”

Robert Horler, managing director of Diffiniti, also thought that the financial crisis would create opportunities, although he did point out that for many in the industry, this will be their first experience of lean times.

“There’s opportunity but we’ve enjoyed growth for four years…It’s going to be completely different,” said Horler.

“All of the growth figures are based on Q1 and Q2 which were some of our best ever quarters but Q3 and Q4 were some of our worst,” he added.

Horler also said that there is a chance that some clients who are not as comfortable in the online arena will turn to off-line media, as “in hard times clients will go to what they know best”.

For Khalil Ibrahimi, managing director of Unanimis, the big challenge ahead is convergence. “We’re on the path to convergence now,” he said. “If you’re a media brand, are you actually going to survive convergence? That is more scary than the next 12 months.”

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