VideoVoo: Online Video Marketing

While search is the leading category within internet advertising spending, internet advertising is far from being the most popular according to the statistics of the IAB Internet AdRevenue Report made by PricewaterhouseCoopers. As the report concludes: “Internet advertising revenues accounted for approximately 5.9 percent of total U.S. ad spending in 2006, up from approximately 4.7 percent in 2005.” That is, out of the approx. total U.S. advertising market of $285 billion, $16.9 billion was spent on online promotion (globally $40 billion). Sounds weird that even the US is so much underusing internet-based techniques. Likewise, it is also somewhat surprising that the basic distribution of internet ad types remained almost the same.

Now, out of the nearly 17 billion USD 40% went into search marketing (including Paid listings -search network, Contextual search—content network, Paid inclusion—not available on Google, but Yahoo offers this indexing service, Site optimization—SEO). It is 1% less than in 2005 (then 41% of the total web marketing revenue). I think search stagnating at around 40% is partly due to the constant lack of (top-notch) search marketing experts, especially the shortage of SEO professionals. As Kevin Lee writes: “Regardless of what technology solution you use: engine-supplied tools, rudimentary third-party bid management tools, or a more sophisticated platform, one can’t discount the importance of expertise and the human factor… SEM campaigns.. can’t be cookie-cutter solutions… Some folks think complexity and the need for technology and smart marketers will dissipate as the engines and ad marketplaces simplify interfaces and add tools.” Besides the missing chain in the SEM human resources, there is also a strong need for educating prospects about search targeted campaigns. Yet, 1% decrease from 2005 to 2006 regarding SEM share from the interactive ad pie chart does not mean that spending was lower. Quite on the contrary: “Search advertising revenues total $6.8 billion for the full year 2006, up 31 percent from the $5.1 billion reported in 2005.”

PS: The Interactive Advertising Bureau has been following internet ad revenues since 1996. It’s a bit strange that the algorithm of Google, presently at the peak of targeting, does not recognize the abbreviation for IAB, even though all the search terms I have used clearly indicate what organization I am looking for. So if search or search-related/ integrated marketing works at this technical level, it may show what future potentials we cherish in online targeting.