The Nielsen Company reports that time spent on social network and blogging sites accounted for 17% of all time spent on the Internet in August 2009, nearly triple the percentage of time
spent on the sector a year ago.
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 | Facebook |
Business to Business | Facebook |
Consumer Goods | Facebook |
Entertainment | MySpace |
Financial Services | MySpace |
Hardware & Electronics | MySpace |
Health | Facebook |
Public Services | Facebook |
Retail Goods & Services | Facebook |
Software | Facebook |
Telecommunications | Facebook |
Travel | Facebook |
Web Media | Facebook |
Source:
Nielsen AdRelevance |
Please visit Nielsen.com here for additional information.