Search Ads Outperforming Display Ads
A Forrester Research survey of interactive marketers at companies of 200 employees or more reveals that despite economic stagnation, most Internet marketing strategies will continue to be kept at the same level or increased. There is one big exception, however: display ads.
Search advertising, the main source of revenue for Google, is proving to be effective and inexpensive, but the high price and mixed results of display advertising is turning a lot of marketers off as the questions about the health of the economy continue. Prices of ads paid by the largest of the ad networks dropped a whopping 52% from March to April, leaving web publishers scrambling to figure out what to do about the lost revenue. CBS, having just purchased CNET for $1.8 billion, is counting on just those kinds of ads to make the deal worth while. They must be a little worried at this point.
While recession worries may hurt some sectors of the online ad business, there may be a positive side to it for Internet marketers. Internet advertising is, among other things, easier to measure than TV, print, and radio ad success. In many cases it’s also much more effective, so while companies are scaling down their more traditional ad budgets, online advertising may get a boost at the expense of others.
There is evidence that some large companies, wary of investing in traditional advertising, are in fact moving in the direction of online advertising. Arby’s and General Motors, for example, are getting strongly into the online game while they scale back other marketing strategies.
Thanks to Stephanie Clifford and Miguel Helft of the New York Times for the story.
Technorati Tags: search ads, display ads, internet marketing, internet advertising
