US Advertisers To Spend $1.6bn On Social Networks In 2008
US advertisers are expected to spend $1.6 billion on social networks in 2008, a year on year rise of 69%, according to the latest figures from eMarketer.
There is little to suggest that this activity will go away, said eMarketer. It predicts that the total US social networking audience will grow by 46% over the next four years to 105 million in 2011.
While the leading social networks, MySpace and Facebook, are now targeting ads based on members’ interests like word-of-mouth marketing on steroids, that ad technique will evolve and be joined by several other methods.
In coming years, for example, advertising will appear not only on social networking destination sites but also within other internet activities, such as online shopping, e-mail or search, which will take on social networking attributes, the online research firm said.
Ofcom’s second annual International Communications Market Report found that advertisers in the UK spend more money per person on internet advertising than any other country, at £33 (see UK Advertisers Spend More Per Person Online Than Any Other Country).
Meanwhile, Nielsen Online revealed that five of the ten fastest growing online brands over the last year in the UK relate to social and professional networking (see Social Networking Dominates UK’s Fastest Growing Online Brands).