Internet advertising is peaking up quite fast in recent years. Local ads are shifting online as the customer base for most small and medium-sized business abandons magazines, newspapers and business directories. Print media is officially dying since 2004 and online spending is far outpacing surges in traditional advertising.
The biggest argument in support of such a claim is the strong annual revenue growth at the five largest ad-selling companies: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and AOL. Estimates project that these five will accumulate 68% of 2011’s total online ad spending. Most marketers are expected to spend at least a portion of their ad budgets with those five companies.
Furthermore, now the analyst firm eMarketer is predicting double-digit growth through 2015. Spending on online ads is expected to pass $50 billion worldwide that year. The figure is nearly double the last year’s spending figure, which clearly indicates the pace of growth. This latest report assumes a continued growth in search advertising, but also in banner ads from large sites like online magazines and search engines.
According to eMarketer, video will continue to be the fastest-growing format in online advertising. Spending for video ads hit $1.42 billion in 2010, but will reach $7.11 billion in 2015. The reason for that is that videos generate greater audience attention than other digital ad formats.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)/PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also announced a 23% jump in online advertising revenues in the first quarter of 2011.
Nielsen estimates global ad spending climbed 8.8% in the first quarter, and TV advertising was up 11.9%.
The most notable factor on the rise is the shift in local advertising, even in Dubai, from print media and Yellow Pages to online ads. Many marketers now use cost-effectively blend of ad networks and direct ad buys from smaller sites to improve their campaign’s reach. The process is more complex than buying ads from just a handful of larger sites, but is more niche market focused. Buying from smaller sites such as professional or geo-targeted networks, also helps marketers maintain their presence within an industry.
