A Creative Communications Agency

Paul Kedrosky points to an interesting article on the WSJ looking at Advertising’s Brave New World.

One of the most interesting items in the piece was this chart, showing U.S. Online Ad Spending by Format:

Link:  Advertising’s Brave New World (via Infectious Greed)

While paid search maintains a huge lead in overall ad spend, Rich Media/Video has grown substantially as have online classifieds. Surprisingly referrals have held flat - with all the buzz about buzz marketing it seems Madison avenue’s deep pockets have been slow to grasp the huge value to be found in referral/affiliate programs (something we constantly push our clients to explore.)

From the article [Links added by ECMS]:

Much of online’s allure can be traced to its precision. In television, for instance, media buyers from Madison Avenue try to place an ad on a TV show that attracts the highest concentration of target customers. Someone wanting to promote their wares to young women, for instance, might advertise on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” But audience measures for television are, at best, rough approximations, based on surveys of a small number of viewers, and advertisers have always found it difficult to judge whether their costly TV ads succeed in driving sales.

Online, advertisers can be much more scientific in where they place their ads. Using behavioral targeting companies, such as independently owned Tacoda Inc. or Revenue Science Inc., marketers can track the online habits of potential customers. For instance, if a consumer clicks on two car sites then visits the Web site for Us Weekly magazine, car ads might show up on the magazine site, in addition to the car sites. That way the ads will appear in front of the person most likely to respond — even when that person is on a site unrelated to cars.