Commentary
Where The Ads Are
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 9, 2009
Year-over-year, estimated online advertising spend on the top social network and blogging sites increased 119% to approximately $108 million in August 2009. The share of estimated spend on these sites has also grown, increasing from a 7% share of total online ad spend in August 2008 to a 15% share in August 2009.
Jon Gibs, Vice President, media and agency insights, Nielsen's online division, said "... While video and text content remain central to the Web experience... the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium's growth."
While several industries decreased their overall online ad spend year-over-year in August, spending on the top social network sites increased across the board. The Entertainment Industry led in growing its online ad dollars, increasing ad spending on the top social network sites by 812% in August.
Year-over-Year% Change in Online Advertising Spend by Industry (U.S., August 2009) | ||||
| Estimated $ on Top Social Network Sites | YOY% Growth | ||
Industry | Aug-08 | Aug-09 | On Social Networks | On All Sites |
Entertainment | $1,097,700 | $10,012,800 | 812% | 40% |
Travel | $473,700 | $2,198,200 | 364% | -11% |
Business to Business | $683,400 | $1,941,700 | 184% | -8% |
Automotive | $1,110,200 | $3,085,800 | 178% | -26% |
Health | $1,131,500 | $2,754,900 | 143% | 8% |
Web Media | $11,231,800 | $26,855,700 | 139% | 30% |
Software | $526,400 | $1,202,500 | 128% | -29% |
Financial Services | $3,233,900 | $6,415,900 | 98% | -10% |
Public Services | $6,836,500 | $13,203,100 | 93% | 13% |
Telecommunications | $12,449,500 | $23,550,300 | 89% | -1% |
Consumer Goods | $1,913,400 | $3,349,200 | 75% | 8% |
Hardware & Electronics | $654,000 | $1,022,900 | 56% | -47% |
Retail Goods & Services | $8,101,400 | $12,556,800 | 55% | -12% |
Source: Nielsen AdRelevance | ||||
Gibs continues, "... the considerable increases we've seen in ad spending over the past year suggest that... advertisers want to connect with core fan bases such as movie studios, (and) are allocating more and more dollars to online communities like Facebook and MySpace... "
In August 2009, Facebook was the No. 1 social networking site advertised on by 10 of the 13 industries when ranked by display ad impressions, while Myspace.com led in the other three industries:
Top US Social Networking Sites For Advertising By Industry (Ranked by Display Ad Impressions for August 2009) | |
Industry | Social Networking Site |
Automotive | |
Business to Business | |
Consumer Goods | |
Entertainment | MySpace |
Financial Services | MySpace |
Hardware & Electronics | MySpace |
Health | |
Public Services | |
Retail Goods & Services | |
Software | |
Telecommunications | |
Travel | |
Web Media | |
Source: Nielsen AdRelevance | |
Please visit Nielsen.com here for additional information.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.
What I find interesting here is the balance of the research. What I have been reading as of late is the great volume of socail networking happens on mobile...and I do not see a lot of ads to my mobile when I am playing on the social tools (twitter being a primary, facebook #2, etc). So...is the onus on the carriers, the device manufacturers, or the advertisers, to do more advertising on the mobile devices (apps not withstanding).
I'm on FB every day and, honestly, I don't notice any advertising.
Sorry this is EXTREMELY flawed researched. How many people fail to log out of a website. Or leave it up in a tab hidden for hours not being viewed or engaged with? I usually work with many tabs open in firefox. And at times I am logged in for hours to facebook, twitter, and huffington post while accessing zero of their content. Yet when they report their page views and time spent it benefits them to record the hours spent idle in hopes of increasing market values or advertising values.
As for Ad Impressions I harp on this again and again and no one gives me an answer. Does a banner ad served to my Firefox Browser that is blocked by Ad Blocking Software...or the fact that EVERY Ad Network is disabled by my No Scripts as well as Google Analytics...do I show up as having viewed Ads that I never saw?
With over 300 million active users, Facebook provides a tremendous platform for reach. With its share of U.S. traffic to social sites reaching 58.6% as of September up from 19.9% last year, it is clear Facebook is a clear leader and definitely more than a fad. What a brilliant concept to get 300 million users to generate content that is just beginning to be monetized!