The Q2 IPA/BDO Bellwether survey found that about 20% of the companies had reduced their marketing budget owing to the prevailing economic uncertainty in the UK. In contrast, 15% of those surveyed have decided to raise their budget. Despite uncertainty, expenditure on marketing activities is expected to rise; even though the rise may not be at the rate expected at the beginning of the year. In the media sector, only direct marketing and the internet categories showed upward revision during Q2 2010, while ’all other’ (below-the-line such as PR, events) and sales promotion budgets were lowered. According to Andy Viner, Head of Media, BDO, the survey findings show a cautious corporate approach, dominated by cost controlling measures. Andy further added: “On a more positive note, certain areas of marketing spend such as internet advertising continue to grow, driven largely by technological factors such as the expansion in social media together with the desire of advertisers for increased measurability and accountability, and a lower cost of investment.”

Tagged: brand media

Google dominated the US searches for the period four weeks ending 26 June by holding 71.65% of the traffic, although its share fell marginally in comparison with its May figures. Google was followed by other players in the list; namely: Yahoo Search with 14.37%, Bing with 9.85% and Ask with a share of 2.19%. Among overall search categories, automotive, business and finance, entertainment, news and media, shopping and social networking posted double digit growth across all search engines. Bing posted a three digit growth across automotive, shopping and travel categories wherein it accounted for a 199% rise in the shopping category.

Tagged: brand media

LinkedIn has included a Facebook style "Like" button in its Groups service, which will permit site's members to appreciate discussions or shared content. The contents, which are marked as "Like", will display on the news feed of users and members, who use the function time and again, will be shown as "Top Influencers", making their "Like" more worthy. Additionally, the link-sharing feature, which is already present on the homepage, has been added to the Groups conversations, making it easier for the users to search whether any professional is taking part in any conservation. The users can also go through the conversations and post their own comments.

Tagged: brand media

The UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) has found that people aged above 50 years accounted for majority of the rise witnessed in the number of UK internet users in 2009. The size of UK internet audience is stated to have risen by 5% from 36.9 million in May 2009 to 38.8 million in May 2010. Out of the 1.9 million new internet users, one million were found to be aged 50 or above. Commenting on these findings on behalf of UKOM/Nielsen, Alex Burmaster said: "The Internet is getting older in more ways than one. Not only is the medium itself maturing but the audience is shifting towards older age groups. This growth is a reminder, if one was still needed, that it is very much a form of media utilised by all age groups".

Tagged: brand media

A GroupM study - This Year, Next Year - has predicted a 3.5% rise in the global adspend in 2010 to £302bn, revising the 1% adspend growth projected six months earlier. The firm has also predicted a 4.5% rise in the global adspend in 2011. Commenting on the findings, GroupM Futures Director Adam Smith said: "The recession has not impacted internet ad spending except in a handful of highly-stressed markets, adding 10 percent to its measured total in 2009 What continues to power the medium is the steady advance in creativity, analysis and technology which embeds digital in almost all marketing activity".

Tagged: brand media

Sage Pay research has found that 71% of visitors who reach online stores via social media make some purchase from the stores. According to the study, although online retailers are good at attracting consumers to their websites, only a few of them make purchases from the stores. The survey advises such businesses to use "stronger" marketing tools, such as social media marketing platforms which are "undervalued ", in spite of being "highly effective".

Tagged: brand media

A study by Experian Hitwise reported a 2.67% decline in the market share of Times Online for the week ending 19 June, as compared with 4.37% for the week ending 22 May. The decline is said to have followed the website’s initiative of introducing registration for viewing its online content. The study stated the average time spent on viewing the site had lowered from 5.5 minutes to 3 minutes per session. Meanwhile, users unwilling to register on the website were found accessing The Independent, The Telegraph and The Guardian instead.

Tagged: brand media

According to comScore's May 2010 US Online Video Rankings, 183 million internet users viewed online videos during the month. YouTube was stated to have achieved an all-time high viewership, accounting for 14.6 billion videos. In all, 34 billion videos were viewed by the US audience in May, with Google sites accounting for 14.6 billion videos and emerging as the “top video property”. Hulu and Microsoft sites, followed at the second and third position, accounting for 1.2 billion and 642 million videos, respectively. Google sites also witnessed the maximum number of viewers - 144.6 million during the month, followed by Yahoo Sites, which drew 46 million viewers and Vevo which attracted 45.6 million viewers.

Tagged: brand media

eMarketer's report titled "U.S. Ad Spending: How Big Is the Bounceback?" has predicted online adspend to reach $25.1bn in the US in 2010, reflecting a 10.8% rise over 2009. Online adspend is expected to account for 15.1% of total ad expenditure, with search, banner ads, classified ads and rich media expecting to receive funding worth $12.4bn, $5.5bn, $1.9bn and $1.6bn, respectively. Lead-gen ads and online video ads are predicted to receive a funding of $1.5bn each. Online video adspend is expected to reach $5.5bn by 2014. Online adspend is expected to form 20.3% of the total media adspend by 2014. Commenting on the findings, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the report, David Hallerman said, "The anxiety attached to the still-healing economy encourages marketers to bet more on 'sure things'--and the ability to measure Internet ads, especially search, makes them more sure than most traditional ad spending".

Tagged: brand media

Google accounted for 72.17% of the total internet searches, carried out in the US for the period four weeks ending 29 May, according to Hitwise. While Yahoo search, Bing and Ask accounted for 14.43%, 9.23% and 2.14% of the total searches respectively, the rest of the 74 search engines listed in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool contributed to 2.03% of internet searches in the US during this period. Hitwise reported that search engine is still the "primary way" adopted by internet users to reach "key" industry categories. The Automotive, Business and Finance, Entertainment, News and Media, Shopping and Social Networking categories have witnessed a double-digit rise in their share of traffic, arriving directly through search engines.

Tagged: brand media