By: Martha L. Stone Ad-tech keynoters discuss online advertising
From rich media advertising to sticky applications to falling advertising CPMs or rising numbers of strategic partnerships and falling advertising budgets, the Ad-tech conference in San Francisco last week chronicled the fast-paced changes taking place within the world of online advertising.
Conference keynote speakers outlined industry trends and how they applied to their own businesses including media companies, advertising networks, portals, and Internet service providers.
New York Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. announced the development of the Times' planned "knowledge portal" but offered few clues as to what will accompany the new offering, or even when it will be launched.
Sulzberger said the Times has learned many lessons along the information highway, including that online newspapers and the Times specifically should do what they do best: journalism. Despite many online leaders' suggestions to the contrary, Sulzberger says journalists always will be needed to provide trusted information on the Web.
In another keynote, America Online CEO Bob Pittman dubbed the Internet as "the new printing press, the new industrial revolution," saying advertising on the Web is revolutionary because it offers the ability to inform and transact in a few clicks, compared with other mediums that require buyers to make an effort to purchase a product by dialing a phone or walking into a store.
Pittman compared AOL ? boasting17 million subscribers ? to newspaper subscriptions including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY with about 1 million subscribers apiece. He reported that AOL advertising revenues were now greater than People magazine at about $600 million; ESPN at about $500 million; and Business Week and USA TODAY at under $375 million each.
Pittman said its members are developing online commerce habits: 3% purchase online everyday and 6% research or window shop everyday. He said 15% shop once or twice per month while 31% research or window shop once or twice per month. Sixty percent of AOL members have never shopped online, he said.
"The Internet solves classic sales problems," Pittman said. "This is the new printing press, the new industrial revolution."
In other Ad-tech highlights:
*The World Wide Internet Opinion Survey, a biannual, joint project of Ad-tech and Talk City online community site, was released, suggesting the Internet has changed the way people shop and get news information.
Twenty-seven percent of the respondents said they turn to the Web for breaking news, up from 23% last year.
The survey said 30% of those surveyed were driven to news sites by word of mouth, down from 32% last year. Thirty-eight percent said Internet content searches most frequently drove them to news sites, up from 36% in 1998.
Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said the Internet has in some way changed the way they shop, up 7% from last year. Eighteen percent of those surveyed cited privacy as the greatest deterrent to shopping online, up from 9% last year.
*World-renowned newspaper and online news site designer Roger Black, president of Interactive Bureau, chaired the Ad-tech's annual online advertising awards. In the media category, Boston.com won the gold award for best media Web site, followed by Wired Digital for second place and APB Online for third place.
*Robin Webster, senior vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, gave a synopsis of her 100-page online advertising study which concludes that the percentage of companies advertising online has decreased from 68% in 1997 to 61% in 1998. The advertisers that place Internet advertising are spending less ? from $714,000 in 1997 to $649,000 in 1998, the report stated.
Webster explained the downturn, saying major corporations remain skeptical of online advertising because of the inability to measure return on investment. She projects a rise in advertising expenditures for 1999 as technology improves ROI analysis.
For more Ad-Tech coverage see New Media, Page 36.
?(Editor & Publisher Web Site:http:www.mediainfo.com) [Caption]
?(copyright: Editor & Publisher May 8, 1999) [Caption & Photo]
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