Traditional Brands Dominate Online Advertising.

Nielsen//NetRatings revealed that traditional offline companies made up more than half of the top 100 advertisers in March 2001, surpassing digital economy companies, according to the latest findings from the AdSpectrum service.

March 2001 research from the Nielsen//NetRatings AdSpectrum service segmented online advertisers by industry: digital economy, including dot coms (e.g., RedEnvelope), high-tech (e.g., Hewlett-Packard), and traditional (e.g., Procter & Gamble).

The data indicated that traditional offline companies comprised 56 percent of the top 100 online advertisers last month, including companies such as Walt Disney, Visa and Chevron (see Table 1 – CLICK above More Images). Digital economy companies made up 34 percent, while high-tech companies accounted for the remaining 10 percent.

Nearly $280 million was spent on online advertising in March and offline brands led the way with new campaigns. Traditional companies spent an estimated $123.3 million, or 44 percent of the total dollar spent on Web campaigns. Digital economy companies spent $104.8 million, or more than 37 percent and high-tech companies spent $51.4 million, or 18.4 percent.

“For the first time, we see a changing of the guards in the world of online advertising,” said Allen Weiner, vice president on analytical services, NetRatings. “Traditional offline companies have caused a seismic shift in the sheer number of companies opting to do online campaigns and the amount of money they spend, signaling a healthy forecast for the industry as the year progresses. Recent online campaign announcements from Pepsi, Diet Coke and Ford suggests renewed interest in the medium by traditional advertisers and agencies.”

Offline Brands Make an Impression

Of the top 100 online advertisers, traditional companies led all other categories in the number of impressions, with more than five billion impressions served in March. Digital economy companies followed closely with 4.3 billion impressions and high-tech companies served more than two billion during the month.

The top five advertisers in the traditional category consisted of financial services companies.

Equifax, a financial credit reporting service, led with 636 million impressions served, followed by Providian Bank, with nearly 504 million impressions (see Table 2 – CLICK above More Images).

In the digital economy category, Yahoo! had more than 554 million impressions, while AOL Time Warner served up nearly 512 million impressions. Microsoft dominated the high-tech category, leading with more than 1.2 billion impressions served in March. Software manufacturer, Bonzi.com followed with more than 284 million impressions.

“No other medium in history provides the immediacy, interaction and precise targeting that the Web offers,” added Weiner. “The burden will be on the creative folks to learn how to use the Web effectively and make lasting impressions.”