Online ad spend to grow in 2009

Internet marketing will attract more spending next year because it offers a range of benefits other platforms do not offer such as a high level of measurability, an industry expert has said.

According to Geoff Ramsey, chief executive of eMarketer

This rise in spending within the online advertising sector can be mainly attributed to the benefits of the internet such as the medium’s potential for consumer behaviour research via Web 2.0 media including social networks and blogs, Mr Ramsey commented.

“The internet allows for better, more granular targeting than other forms of media, [which] reduces media waste,” he wrote on the eMarketer website.

He added that the internet accounts for a larger share of total media time among youngsters, who spend more hours online per week than they do watching television.

A recent survey of 340 senior marketing professionals worldwide found that 91 per cent are using online advertising and 55 per cent are reducing expenditure on traditional media in order to inject more money into their online marketing efforts.