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The latest PwC / WARC / IAB spend data for the first half of this year, released last week, shows that “the Internet has now overtaken TV advertising to become the UK’s single biggest advertising medium”.
Blimey.
And when you consider that the Internet spend data the report is based on doesn’t include all the money businesses spend on building websites, applications or experiential doodahs to support their brands it’s even more significant.
The biggest spenders by sector were Technology (19.1% of the total), Telecoms (13.3%), Finance (13.2%), Entertainment & Media (11.8%) and even FMCG at 8.1%. So even the last holdouts - the loo rolls, the baked beans and the loaves of bread - are joining the fray.
It’s an amazing set of results; all the more so for a medium or channel (neither is quite right but that’s for another note) that only started carrying ads 15 years ago.
We don’t all need to forget where The Mill is just yet though.
For a start, ‘Internet’ means many things whereas TV advertising is monolithic. For example, search accounts for 60% of this spend and that’s no surprise. Paying a media owner only for an action that people take that demonstrates their interest in your brand seems a pretty efficient way to advertise, especially in a recession. The brand effect of search advertising is pretty limited though.
Classifieds is the next biggest lump of spend - and while this is bad news for the back halves of newspapers it’s again all about efficiency. You can’t easily search through millions of classified listings in the Telegraph; you can on RightMove.
In display advertising the number was actually down year on year. This is interesting as it shows that bits of internet advertising are now mature enough to behave like the rest of the sector. it’s also interesting as it shows that the bit of online most analogous to TV - amongst other things not brilliantly accountable - suffers in a downturn. Whereas the completely accountable bits of online advertising that do very little to shape long-term brand perceptions have done really well.
So here’s a prediction. As marketing budgets get stronger over the next 18 months we’ll see a lessening decrease or even a small uptick in TV spend. Online display and other more brand-oriented digital will also do well. Marketers will feel freer to invest in longer-term brand-building strategies and the rate of growth in search and classified will slow as it matures.
Or we’ll all have to become search specialists. come and see me for your first lesson…
