Thursday, October 01, 2009

Before we herald the death of TV advertising..........

The much trumpeted statistic that online advertising has now surpassed that of television comes as no real surprise.

The report by Price Waterhouse Coopers for the Internet Advertising Bureau shows that online advertising rose to 23.5 per cent of the total market in the first half of this year, while TV was on 21.9 per cent.

But before we all start ringing the death knell of the tradition forms,it may be a good idea to step back.

As the FT points out in this comment piece

Online marketing is still at the utilitarian end of the ad spectrum. It is better at helping consumers satisfy needs they have already identified than persuading them to buy products that they had not previously thought – perhaps rightly – that they needed. If internet advertising is to capture the 30 per cent market share that its most fervent supporters believe could be in its grasp, then it needs to capture more high-profile campaigns and attract a greater share of consumer brand marketing.


There are also two rather looming issues as the piece continues

1. continuing pressure on UK TV advertising sharpens questions about how to pay for public service broadcasting beyond the BBC.

2.Privacy-Being able to tailor web adverts to users’ preferences, based on individual browsing patterns, is part of the internet’s appeal for advertisers. Some online users will readily trade privacy for the convenience of avoiding irrelevant advertising. But others may feel uncomfortable that this information is collected and sold.

Raymond Snoddy also has some issues.(via Michael Taylor).

In this piece at MediaTel he argues that although it is

a symbolic moment. Television has been beaten into second place after nearly fifty years by a medium that could scarcely be glimpsed on the horizon a decade ago
he points out that

online search and comparison sites scramble over each other to advertise on network television. Presumably they must all believe in the effectiveness of television advertising.

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