• by Laurie Petersen , September 24, 2007

The economic downturn that has put a cloud over traditional media spending is not having the same effect on online advertising.

That's one indicator from a survey of MediaPost members conducted this month by InsightExpress. While the survey is only directional in nature, a full 70% of the 59 respondents said their fourth-quarter online budget is up over the same period in 2006. Of this group, 29% increased their budgets for the period from 11-20%.

In addition, 59% increased their online budgets from Q2 to Q3. Meanwhile, 34% of respondents say they intend to increase their online advertising spending in 2008 as a result of the economic climate, while 7% will decrease it.

That finding is consistent with remarks made last week by eTrade CMO Nick Utton, who said that he's reallocating his marketing budget, but more is going into online channels.

In addition, both TNS Media Intelligence and Nielsen Monitor-Plus have tracked double-digit gains in online advertising in the face of an overall decline in traditional media spending.

In other findings:

The media for nearly three of every four online campaigns is bought within three months of the campaign live date.

Respondents saw little change in price for run-of-service and premium inventory from Q2. Paid search has increased by 6%, and the average search CPC rate is $5.93.

Neither Google's plans to acquire DoubleClick or the Microsoft acquisition of aQuantive (and its Atlas network) caused any measurable defection to different ad networks.

More than half the respondents (54%) say their clients will make more attempts at viral marketing in 2008.

The new video format on YouTube will cause 22% to spend more in the channel.