Online Ad Spend Is Gaining Share In Categories Transformed By The Internet.

DoubleClick Inc. announced the release of its Cross Media Ad Spending report commissioned in conjunction with Nielsen//NetRatings. The study was designed to gain a complete picture of the relative growth of ad spending by media and key industry segments over the last five years.

The study supports the drop all media have seen in ad spending with the recession. More specifically, the data found that by specific categories of advertising, magazines and online advertising have been particularly hard hit.

Online ad dollars have followed in categories transformed by the Internet The adoption of the online medium has caused some of the most dramatic media consumption and purchasing shifts over the past few years and ad dollars have followed in categories where the purchase process has been transformed by the unique capabilities of the Internet:

* Employment Services
This sector has largely shifted online, where they have allocated over 41% of their $28 million first quarter 2002 advertising expenditures, causing an impact on local newspapers.

* Computers, Office Equipment & Stationary
This sector now devotes nearly 16% of their advertising online, selling directly to known users of their products, primarily impacting magazines.

* Publishing & Media
This 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
This sector has 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.

* Travel, Hotels & Resorts
These 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.

Television ad spend has recovered quicker than any other media With more than half of ad expenditures, 55% in 2001, spot and network television together maintain the primary share of advertising spending, even though its growth has flattened out over the past few years. In some categories it has gained share, particularly from magazines, as in a recession environment, advertisers have sought efficient mass audience reach. In fact, most of the advertising growth over the last year has come from local TV news with an increase of over 9%, Hispanic TV with nearly 7%, and Network TV with nearly 6%.

Furthermore, the data shows that newspapers are second to television in terms of ad spending in the media mix, but have seen ad spending decline since mid 2000. This decline has primarily affected local newspapers, which have seen some of the biggest swings in ad spending over the last five years. They experienced the highs of the tight job market and increased classified ad spending and are now going through the low.

“Conventional wisdom has it that most advertising spending has been one or two percent of the total online advertising budget, but according to these results, the reality is that some key categories are actually spending much more significant portions of their advertising budgets online,” said Doug Knopper, Vice President and General Manager, Online Advertising Solutions, DoubleClick. “The Internet has surpassed other traditional media such as radio and outdoor and is gaining this share from categories where online has become a material purchase or information channel such as retail, travel and employment services.”

For more information at http://www.doubleclick.net