American advertising agency executives are looking to increase spending on viral video campaigns in 2009, a poll has found.
About seven in ten of those surveyed by Feed Company said they wanted to expand their budgets for the medium next year.
The organisation noted that video clips sponsored by major brands have seen significant success in the viral world this year, with videos such as Guys Backflip Into Jeans by Levi's among the most viewed on the web.
Feed Company's survey also found that executives are concerned about the lack of accountability and success benchmarks associated with viral marketing, although this does not seem to be preventing them from spending more on the channel.
"We're definitely seeing more of these campaigns because it costs less to produce and market viral video than many other types of traditional media - and that's attractive to marketers during an economic downturn," explained Feed Company president Josh Warner.
The upcoming US presidential election has resulted in a surge of related videos, including those of candidate speeches and interviews as well as parodies, going viral on the web in recent times.... read full details »
A new report has revealed that spending on paid search soared by almost 27 per cent in the US during the last quarter.
Existing search advertisers increased expenditure across all engines during the third quarter of 2008 compared with last year, with retailers increasing year-on-year spending by 1.5 per cent as well as experiencing higher conversions.
Comparing the second and third quarters of 2008, overall paid search spending rose by just 1.6 per cent - although this trend was also noted at the same time last year.
The report also showed that Google's stranglehold on the pay-per-click market is continuing. The search engine received 72 per cent of all spending on the medium in the last three months.
Conversely, Yahoo! dropped market share compared with the second quarter but made gains year-on-year.
About £981 million was spent on paid search marketing in the UK during the first six months of 2008, according to recent figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau.... read full details »
Businesses undertaking online marketing ahead of the busy Christmas shopping period must ensure they use web analytics to better measure the effectiveness of their work.
This is according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which said that analytics can be a useful way of checking how online marketing and web redesign projects impact on key metrics such as sales.
According to Widemile's Frans Keylard, analytics can be helpful even for small website retouches such as adding a new image, as the tool can aid marketers in determining whether this has any effect on the amount of time users spend on the site.
Furthermore, those preparing for the festive period would do well to review their search and email marketing campaigns and refine them to target Christmas shoppers, the WSJ said.
Choice, convenience, efficiency and trust are likely to be the most important factors that will dictate how well online retailers perform this Christmas when it comes to internet sales, according to experts at the recent IMRG Members' Meeting.... read full details »
The internet was the only marketing medium to experience an increase in investment by UK companies during the third quarter of 2008, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) has said.
In its latest Bellwether report, the IPA highlighted the fact that the quarter represented the fourth successive three-month period in which overall advertising spending fell, pointing to the tough trading conditions currently being seen globally.
Despite this, businesses sought to spend more on internet advertising while cutting back on main media ads and other channels like events sponsorship and PR, the IPA noted.
Moray MacLennan, president of the IPA, stated: "The industry will be watching the next set of results with great interest hoping that, following four quarters of decline, the downward curve levels off, despite the impending recession."
Online ad spending in the UK could surpass the £3.3 billion mark by the end of this year, according to figures published by research firm eMarketer last month.... read full details »
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