• by Masha Geller , December 11, 2002

Contrary to the popular belief of the Internet being a 1-2% medium, some key categories are actually spending more significant portions of their ad budgets online.

DoubleClick and Nielsen//NetRatings today announced the release of their Cross Media Ad Spending report, which analyzed the relative growth of ad spending by media and key industry segments over the last five years. The study confirmed that the Internet has caused some of the most dramatic media consumption and purchasing shifts over the past few years and ad dollars have actually followed in categories where the purchase process has been transformed by the unique capabilities of the Web.

In particular, the Employment Services sector has largely shifted online, where they have allocated more than 41% of their $28 million first quarter 2002 advertising expenditures, causing an impact on local newspapers.

The Computers, Office Equipment & Stationery sector now devotes nearly 16% of their advertising online, selling directly to known users of their products, primarily impacting magazines. Speaking of which, the Publishing & Media sector uses the Internet to attract new users to their sites and devoted 15.5% of their total first quarter 2002 spend of $479 million to online advertising.

Retailers, the study says, have also discovered an entirely new business & buying channel in ecommerce and spent nearly 15% of their total spend of $3 billion+ online in first quarter 2002.

And, of course, Travel, Hotels & Resorts companies have been able to increase profits by cutting out the agents and connecting directly with consumers online. They have spent 12% of their $788 million online in first quarter 2002.