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The medium is the message
The Internet Advertising Bureau has predicted that online advertising will be worth more than £1billion in 2005, and it now accounts for 5.8% of overall advertising expenditure in the UK.
Ewen Angus reviews the growth of online advertising in 2005…
For the first time, the money spent on web advertising in Britain was more than that spent on outdoor advertising, including posters and bus shelter advertising - and more than the money spent on radio and cinema advertising combined.
Technology is swiftly making traditional television advertising campaigns redundant. Modern viewers can use personal video recorders to skip past TV ads and they can buy commercial-free programmes to play on their iPods.
The internet, on the other hand, allows advertisers to target consumers more accurately and track their responses. It has become so popular among British advertisers that the value of website advertising rose to £490.8 million in the first six months of 2005, up 62 per cent on the same period the year before and more than the £407.8 million spent in the whole of 2003.
However, in the last few years that has begun to change, as the effects of cheap and fast broadband access, more compelling content and better advertising models have all contributed to a booming marketplace online.
BROADBAND
Recent advertising growth has been fuelled by the increased take-up of broadband internet connections, which are now used by over eight million UK households. Broadband use has jumped from 4.2 million in 2004 to 8 million in 2005, with current connection rates running at one every 10 seconds. Broadband homes spend nearly twice as long online as those with dial-up connections, and where consumers go, advertisers are following.
CONTENT
Britain is turning into a nation of internet shoppers, with research revealing that more than 17 million UK adults purchase online, out of the 25 million who use the internet at home. Domestic users are spending on average nearly £500 each year.
And it's not just shopping that's on the increase; there is no doubt the internet has changed the way candidates look for and apply for jobs. Companies, too, have adapted to the medium and increasingly expect to advertise jobs online and receive online applications. Online recruitment is now even more popular than internet shopping and e-banking.
ADVERTISING
The options for advertising online are unparalleled compared to other mediums; we have email, banners, videos, PR and search engines. The massive growth in search engine use over the last few years has been the biggest driver in the internet's share of advertising. Google accounts for over 50% of all internet searches and now processes over a billion searches a day, up from 150 million three years ago.
Marketing on the search engines enables your company to reach customers with precise targeting at the time they're looking for your products or services, which leads to a better return on investment for your advertising budget. Moreover, Scottish catering and hospitality companies' online advertising can offer a targeted marketing option to a rapidly growing mass market.
Trinity Heriot can prepare a free Search Engine report for your website. Visit www.trinityheriot.co.uk or call 0131 558 8663 for more information on search engine marketing.
This article has been edited from the original version. To read it in full, see Catering in Scotland magazine, February/March 2006. Click on the Media Pack icon on this website and select 'subscribe'.
