The latest IAB/PWC figures are out and the sentiment is very positive.
In Q3 of 2008, total online spend on advertising was $451m - up 30% YOY (from $348m Q3 2007) and up 9% on Q2 2008.
All categories contributed to the growth, Display, Classifieds and Search. Display was up 29% YOY, Search 33% YOY and Classifieds up 25% YOY.
When you look at quarter on quarter growth the picture is a little different.
Search was up 9% Q2 to Q3 to $212m for Q3. Display was up 10% to 126m. Classifieds was only up 2% Q2 oto Q3 to 114m.
For display advertising these quarter on quarter figures are a triumph. It outpaced the market in terms of growth, gaining ground on search for the first time in a long time.
For classifieds it signals the start of more bad news to come. Seek today forecast zero profit growth for this fiscal year and the next 6-12 months will hit the main classifieds operators hard as the job, auto and real estate markets flatline.
Display was definitely helped by the Olympics falling into Q3 2008, and was given a kick by some solid and encouraging improvements within the Automotive, Media and Real Estate sectors, alongside strong increases spend wise from the mainstays - Finance, Technology/Telco and Travel.
This report also broke out segments within categories - allowing those who use it to get a better idea of how specific areas such as Music, Home Loans, Gaming, Beverages etc went.
On that note, the music industry definitely need a swift kick up the arse with their online investment - the ENTIRE industry only spent 365k on digital in Q3.
All in all, very encouraging results for the digital advertising world. Q4 will be interesting - publishers seem to be scrambling a little but this is a probably a result of overzealous revenue targeting rather than the bottom dropping out of the market.
2009 - who knows what it will hold ... if I was a Sales Director I'd make sure I was extremely cautious on Q3 09 in terms of YOY growth ... I'd also be somewhat concerned that the big 4 categories for online display spend - finance, automotive, tech and travel are copping a bit of a battering already as a result of a sluggish economic climate. Can they maintain the same spend levels in terms of dollar amount they invested in 08 in 09, let alone increase them?
Thankyou to Patty Keegan for supplying me with this report today.
Showing posts with label IAB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IAB. Show all posts
Friday, November 7, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
News Digital Media: The Unemployed spend 40hrs a week on Internet
That's the word according to News Digital Media and their Aspiring Australian's market research.
It tells us that unemployed users of NDM sites spend 6 hours per weekday on the Internet, and 5 hours per weekend day. Total = 40 hours.
Effectively, these people do have a full time job. It's called surfing the net.
So maybe an economic slowdown and higher unemployed rates might be good for digital media consumption ;)
The full report is here - http://media.news.com.au/sales/marketing/pdf/NDMreport03SEP08LO2.pdf
The research is pretty generic, which is disappointing because it's good to see News Digital take the step and try and work out their audience a little better.
There's no new insight into why people use online (real motivations), their usage across different areas (ie maps, video, search, content, contribution), emerging trends or cross media consumption. This is the only first release of the report, and you can be sure it will evolve moving forward as it's released every 3 months.
It does have one statistic that is interesting - that the average NDM user is spending 27 hours, 49 minutes on the Internet per week.
As a figure this feels high to me and surely must be skewed by the respondants being online at work - which needs to be clarified more. Are they 'online' - ie connected - or are they actively using the Internet?
Personally, I work in digital media and I wouldn't be actively online more than 20 hours a week across home and work.
According to Nielsen, the average Internet user in AU spends 14 hours, 34 minutes online per month - which works out to around 3.3 hours per week online.
Who is right? The difference is pretty significant.
It tells us that unemployed users of NDM sites spend 6 hours per weekday on the Internet, and 5 hours per weekend day. Total = 40 hours.
Effectively, these people do have a full time job. It's called surfing the net.
So maybe an economic slowdown and higher unemployed rates might be good for digital media consumption ;)
The full report is here - http://media.news.com.au/sales/marketing/pdf/NDMreport03SEP08LO2.pdf
The research is pretty generic, which is disappointing because it's good to see News Digital take the step and try and work out their audience a little better.
There's no new insight into why people use online (real motivations), their usage across different areas (ie maps, video, search, content, contribution), emerging trends or cross media consumption. This is the only first release of the report, and you can be sure it will evolve moving forward as it's released every 3 months.
It does have one statistic that is interesting - that the average NDM user is spending 27 hours, 49 minutes on the Internet per week.
As a figure this feels high to me and surely must be skewed by the respondants being online at work - which needs to be clarified more. Are they 'online' - ie connected - or are they actively using the Internet?
Personally, I work in digital media and I wouldn't be actively online more than 20 hours a week across home and work.
According to Nielsen, the average Internet user in AU spends 14 hours, 34 minutes online per month - which works out to around 3.3 hours per week online.
Who is right? The difference is pretty significant.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
To ad network or not to ad network?
That is the question ...
Two good articles of late that I think illustrate the benefits of selling your inventory via CPM and not giving into the short term revenue temptation of remnant networks
Conde Nast bucks Ad Network System, revamps Sales Strategy - http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630482
Good article on how Conde Nast is focusing on verticals within their sales teams. For a company like theirs, it makes sense. Conde Nast is about quality not quanity, to remain viable they can't play an eyeball numbers game, they need to extract yield from premium content and context.
""The brands that we do business with are used to buying content. They value the context and they understand the price; you have to pay for that."
On the other hand you have this article ...
Ad Nets Accounted For 30 Percent Of Publishers’ ‘07 Sales; Premium Price Erosion?: IAB, Bain - http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-ad-nets-accounted-for-30-percent-of-publishers-07-sales-but-eroding-pre
In the past year, ad networks accounted for 30 percent of major publishers’ online sales, compared to five percent in 2006.
It also talks about how remnant inventory may account for 25% of inventory sold, but only 2% of revenue (due to the rock bottom prices). "Publishers’ desire to reduce their unsold inventory levels appear connected to greater use of ad networks and, therefore, to lower CPMs."
Here's the dilemma. Speak to local publishers about ad networks and they will tell you it's completely not a focus at all for their business and only accounts for <10% of their revenues. sure, it might only account for 10% of revenue but it accounts for a lot higher % of inventory - and that's what really hurts ... as not many premium advertisers want to be seen aside performance advertising. This then impacts the CPM you can charge ... which lowers your yield, increases your reliance on performance and so on.
It's not all bad news, as the article states that better targeting will lead to higher CPMs in future once/if rolled out. This may require consolidation though. And better targeting I'd imagine.
Two good articles of late that I think illustrate the benefits of selling your inventory via CPM and not giving into the short term revenue temptation of remnant networks
Conde Nast bucks Ad Network System, revamps Sales Strategy - http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630482
Good article on how Conde Nast is focusing on verticals within their sales teams. For a company like theirs, it makes sense. Conde Nast is about quality not quanity, to remain viable they can't play an eyeball numbers game, they need to extract yield from premium content and context.
""The brands that we do business with are used to buying content. They value the context and they understand the price; you have to pay for that."
On the other hand you have this article ...
Ad Nets Accounted For 30 Percent Of Publishers’ ‘07 Sales; Premium Price Erosion?: IAB, Bain - http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-ad-nets-accounted-for-30-percent-of-publishers-07-sales-but-eroding-pre
In the past year, ad networks accounted for 30 percent of major publishers’ online sales, compared to five percent in 2006.
It also talks about how remnant inventory may account for 25% of inventory sold, but only 2% of revenue (due to the rock bottom prices). "Publishers’ desire to reduce their unsold inventory levels appear connected to greater use of ad networks and, therefore, to lower CPMs."
Here's the dilemma. Speak to local publishers about ad networks and they will tell you it's completely not a focus at all for their business and only accounts for <10% of their revenues. sure, it might only account for 10% of revenue but it accounts for a lot higher % of inventory - and that's what really hurts ... as not many premium advertisers want to be seen aside performance advertising. This then impacts the CPM you can charge ... which lowers your yield, increases your reliance on performance and so on.
It's not all bad news, as the article states that better targeting will lead to higher CPMs in future once/if rolled out. This may require consolidation though. And better targeting I'd imagine.
Friday, July 25, 2008
There's the truth ... and there's the truth
The Oz has an expose about websites stretching the truth about traffic numbers.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24068103-26077,00.html
Overall not bad, and an issue that is something of concern.
A few interesting points however ...
"Simon Van Wyck, founder of web advertising company Hothouse, says a number of web publishers and portals count visitors to allied sites, but do not necessarily have the right to claim such traffic.
"I think you can look at other things, such as claiming traffic that is not theirs," Van Wyck says.
Examples include Ninemsn, which claims Hotmail and Yahoo. "
Hrm ... ninemsn claims Yahoo! traffic. Might want a fact check on that one.
"Recently the Internet Advertising Bureau began looking at the issue of automatic refreshes of pages -- a common element used by news publishers to keep late-breaking stories at the top of lists.
"Keegan says the problem occurs when ads are refreshed along with the stories, creating the impression of more traffic."
Most publishers do this ...
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24068103-26077,00.html
Overall not bad, and an issue that is something of concern.
A few interesting points however ...
"Simon Van Wyck, founder of web advertising company Hothouse, says a number of web publishers and portals count visitors to allied sites, but do not necessarily have the right to claim such traffic.
"I think you can look at other things, such as claiming traffic that is not theirs," Van Wyck says.
Examples include Ninemsn, which claims Hotmail and Yahoo. "
Hrm ... ninemsn claims Yahoo! traffic. Might want a fact check on that one.
"Recently the Internet Advertising Bureau began looking at the issue of automatic refreshes of pages -- a common element used by news publishers to keep late-breaking stories at the top of lists.
"Keegan says the problem occurs when ads are refreshed along with the stories, creating the impression of more traffic."
Most publishers do this ...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
An open letter to IAB Australia
So Paul Fisher starts at IAB Australia as their first full time CEO on Tuesday (July 1)
This is an exciting time as it marks the first time the IAB locally seem to have taken their role particularly seriously. Having a part time leader for more than 2 years was a joke and I think the inaction of the IAB locally to date will make it tough for the next incarnation.
However, I want to see the IAB work. By work, I mean add value to all stakeholders ...
- marketers
- agencies
- publishers
- government
- other media (FTA, STA, radio, OOH etc)
What are the key areas the IAB needs to address to become relevant?
1. Tell us what you are about
What is the IAB about locally? Who does it represent and what role does it play? What is its purpose and goals? Right now, I don't think anyone knows the answer to this ... and it's the first thing that needs to be determined.
2. Set proper guidelines around specs and reporting
The IAB high fived eachother back in 2005 when they came out saying they had nailed standardised ad units ... erm ... only across the major 5 portals ... erm, but not really as there's still loads of special ad units on each and some don't accept tracking on certain areas of the site and there's still anomolies around mute buttons, close buttons, borders, frame rates etc. So in reality it's no easier now than it was then to place campaigns across a variety of sites.
We also have some publishers on audited external reporting platforms, some not, and a lot of audience tweaking to agencies and marketers. Add to this no publicised standards across Mobile, Video, Podcasts etc voiced by the IAB and it's clear there's a fair bit of work to do here.
3. Offer real insights and research
Right now Insights and Research are limited to the IAB PWC report ... which is, in all honesty, completely useless for 99% of those it's intended for. It helps those who need to, say, forecast revenue growth (ie biz dev guys, sales directors, business directors), but it provides no analysis as to WHY certain things are happening or future predictions. Yes, it's a nice reflection of the spend to date ... but it doesn't help anyone.
The IAB current has no position on anything - they don't even have an active blog. Why aren't they offering a voice ... a leadership voice? In terms of measurement evolution ... we aren't seeing anything from the IAB to show how digital impacts on metrics such as PURCHASE and INTENT. Why? How areas like Social Media help solve problems, what video offers, how search and display work together ... the best research right now is coming out of agencies - through necessity. Insights and research are being driven again by agencies.
4. Lobby the wider marketing community
One key task of the IAB is to create a FreeTV type body that lobbies on behalf of the industry - accumulates case studies, works with other lobby groups to share knowledge and insight. It needs to do what is needed to have big marketers as advocates of the medium. It needs to break down the notion that digital media is some sort of acronym heavy confusing vortex and show simply how it can be used to meet objectives. And what can be done to help this ...
5. Events and Training
The only real event we get now is the IAB Awards - which in 2008 was an expensive meal with bad drinks waiters and a cranky newsreader host where some of the industry got together and caught up. There is tremendous opportunity for the IAB to take a leadership role in offering training and demistifying things like analytics, brand v performance, measurement etc ... like Randal Rothenberg and his team does in the US. It could have forums around emerging technologies and issues - measurement, mobile, DM, UGC etc
6. Sort out our reporting issues
The tools we have available to us to measure how people are using the net are stuck in the 90's. We can't measure ..
- search volume
- video streams
- mobile site usage
- any site that has <50k users
... amongst other things. So, whilst the users have evolved, the measurement hasn't. And it's causing issues in agency land - as it makes getting audited data on high quality, lower audience properties very difficult. The new measurement system needs to be similar to a Quantcast than anything Nielsen has thrown out in this market to date, we need a tool we can use that will offer value, insight and direction to decisions.
The IAB also needs to lobby Roy Morgan HARD as their measurement of digital channels is beyond embarassing. For the largest panel in AU to measure online the way they do is crazy. We shouldn't have to settle for dated, flawed measurement systems in digital and for the industry to grow and prosper this needs to improve now.
7. Represent the interests of all publishers
... not just the big 5. I predict within 3 years the big 5 will be lucky to occupy over 35% of the display market. What will drive the category will be sites outside of the main publishers. This is not to say they are niche - they are moreso specialty plays that focus on one area and have a strong audience. The IAB needs to be careful it represents these sites as equally as it does the big 5 as, again, this is what will drive industry growth. Clients I speak to - over 50% of them - are requesting placements outside of the portals ... they are beginning to understand the value of an engaged audience and really understanding that reach isn't everything, especially on the web.
Good luck Fish, lets see IAB drive the dialogue instead of being a silent body.
This is an exciting time as it marks the first time the IAB locally seem to have taken their role particularly seriously. Having a part time leader for more than 2 years was a joke and I think the inaction of the IAB locally to date will make it tough for the next incarnation.
However, I want to see the IAB work. By work, I mean add value to all stakeholders ...
- marketers
- agencies
- publishers
- government
- other media (FTA, STA, radio, OOH etc)
What are the key areas the IAB needs to address to become relevant?
1. Tell us what you are about
What is the IAB about locally? Who does it represent and what role does it play? What is its purpose and goals? Right now, I don't think anyone knows the answer to this ... and it's the first thing that needs to be determined.
2. Set proper guidelines around specs and reporting
The IAB high fived eachother back in 2005 when they came out saying they had nailed standardised ad units ... erm ... only across the major 5 portals ... erm, but not really as there's still loads of special ad units on each and some don't accept tracking on certain areas of the site and there's still anomolies around mute buttons, close buttons, borders, frame rates etc. So in reality it's no easier now than it was then to place campaigns across a variety of sites.
We also have some publishers on audited external reporting platforms, some not, and a lot of audience tweaking to agencies and marketers. Add to this no publicised standards across Mobile, Video, Podcasts etc voiced by the IAB and it's clear there's a fair bit of work to do here.
3. Offer real insights and research
Right now Insights and Research are limited to the IAB PWC report ... which is, in all honesty, completely useless for 99% of those it's intended for. It helps those who need to, say, forecast revenue growth (ie biz dev guys, sales directors, business directors), but it provides no analysis as to WHY certain things are happening or future predictions. Yes, it's a nice reflection of the spend to date ... but it doesn't help anyone.
The IAB current has no position on anything - they don't even have an active blog. Why aren't they offering a voice ... a leadership voice? In terms of measurement evolution ... we aren't seeing anything from the IAB to show how digital impacts on metrics such as PURCHASE and INTENT. Why? How areas like Social Media help solve problems, what video offers, how search and display work together ... the best research right now is coming out of agencies - through necessity. Insights and research are being driven again by agencies.
4. Lobby the wider marketing community
One key task of the IAB is to create a FreeTV type body that lobbies on behalf of the industry - accumulates case studies, works with other lobby groups to share knowledge and insight. It needs to do what is needed to have big marketers as advocates of the medium. It needs to break down the notion that digital media is some sort of acronym heavy confusing vortex and show simply how it can be used to meet objectives. And what can be done to help this ...
5. Events and Training
The only real event we get now is the IAB Awards - which in 2008 was an expensive meal with bad drinks waiters and a cranky newsreader host where some of the industry got together and caught up. There is tremendous opportunity for the IAB to take a leadership role in offering training and demistifying things like analytics, brand v performance, measurement etc ... like Randal Rothenberg and his team does in the US. It could have forums around emerging technologies and issues - measurement, mobile, DM, UGC etc
6. Sort out our reporting issues
The tools we have available to us to measure how people are using the net are stuck in the 90's. We can't measure ..
- search volume
- video streams
- mobile site usage
- any site that has <50k users
... amongst other things. So, whilst the users have evolved, the measurement hasn't. And it's causing issues in agency land - as it makes getting audited data on high quality, lower audience properties very difficult. The new measurement system needs to be similar to a Quantcast than anything Nielsen has thrown out in this market to date, we need a tool we can use that will offer value, insight and direction to decisions.
The IAB also needs to lobby Roy Morgan HARD as their measurement of digital channels is beyond embarassing. For the largest panel in AU to measure online the way they do is crazy. We shouldn't have to settle for dated, flawed measurement systems in digital and for the industry to grow and prosper this needs to improve now.
7. Represent the interests of all publishers
... not just the big 5. I predict within 3 years the big 5 will be lucky to occupy over 35% of the display market. What will drive the category will be sites outside of the main publishers. This is not to say they are niche - they are moreso specialty plays that focus on one area and have a strong audience. The IAB needs to be careful it represents these sites as equally as it does the big 5 as, again, this is what will drive industry growth. Clients I speak to - over 50% of them - are requesting placements outside of the portals ... they are beginning to understand the value of an engaged audience and really understanding that reach isn't everything, especially on the web.
Good luck Fish, lets see IAB drive the dialogue instead of being a silent body.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Search users v Display user - the value difference
The new PWC IAB data has been released - to the end of Q1 2008 - and as usual the industry is still showing robust growth driven mainly by increases in search engine marketing spend.
Search is getting very close as a category to being twice as large as display advertising. Display advertising for the 12 months preceeding March 2008 generated 386,500,000 in revenues. Search, for the same period, brought in 665,750,000
Interesting.
We all know the benefits of search. Accountable, contextually relevant, nimble.
It also has the huge advantages of low barriers to entry AND exit. That is important - the costs and procedure associated with pushing a campaign onto Google/Overture are minimal, and you can take it down if it stops working for you.
Can you do this with display? No. That is not how those publishers work. Generally, once the money is in it's not coming out.
I saw yesterday Michael Arrington was trying to value social networks by using a hybrid model of how many users each network had in a particular territory and factoring in the average revenue generated per user from advertising. Problem was, for AU he used the total figure of search, classifieds, directories and display.
If you drill this down further it becomes interesting.
According to Nielsen Netview there are 11,895,000 Internet users in Australia.
On this number, the average user in a display sense is worth $32.49
Using the same number, the average user in a search sense is worth $55.96
Interestingly, the Display revenues are shared amongst countless publishers - up to 100 - who are competing for revenue.
Search revenues are shared by 2 publishers. Google and Overture. I would estimate conservatively that Google is taking around 90% of the search category revenue. This would put Google's revenue at a figure higher than the total display advertising pie. (upwards of $386m)
So - what can the display publishers do to start to even up the game? How can they continue to compete and increase growth and show the value of the medium against its more accountable, performance based text option?
sources: Neilsen Netview, May 2008, PWC - IAB Online Expenditure Report - March 2008
Search is getting very close as a category to being twice as large as display advertising. Display advertising for the 12 months preceeding March 2008 generated 386,500,000 in revenues. Search, for the same period, brought in 665,750,000
Interesting.
We all know the benefits of search. Accountable, contextually relevant, nimble.
It also has the huge advantages of low barriers to entry AND exit. That is important - the costs and procedure associated with pushing a campaign onto Google/Overture are minimal, and you can take it down if it stops working for you.
Can you do this with display? No. That is not how those publishers work. Generally, once the money is in it's not coming out.
I saw yesterday Michael Arrington was trying to value social networks by using a hybrid model of how many users each network had in a particular territory and factoring in the average revenue generated per user from advertising. Problem was, for AU he used the total figure of search, classifieds, directories and display.
If you drill this down further it becomes interesting.
According to Nielsen Netview there are 11,895,000 Internet users in Australia.
On this number, the average user in a display sense is worth $32.49
Using the same number, the average user in a search sense is worth $55.96
Interestingly, the Display revenues are shared amongst countless publishers - up to 100 - who are competing for revenue.
Search revenues are shared by 2 publishers. Google and Overture. I would estimate conservatively that Google is taking around 90% of the search category revenue. This would put Google's revenue at a figure higher than the total display advertising pie. (upwards of $386m)
So - what can the display publishers do to start to even up the game? How can they continue to compete and increase growth and show the value of the medium against its more accountable, performance based text option?
sources: Neilsen Netview, May 2008, PWC - IAB Online Expenditure Report - March 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
IAB Australia announce CEO
News Digital Media Sales Director, Paul Fisher, has been announced as the first CEO of the Australian branch of the Internet Advertising Bureau.
He starts 1 July.
I have to say, he has a tough task ahead of him. After the balls up that was the IAB Awards ceremony and process as well as the IAB being virtually invisible to the industry since inception it's going to be difficult to establish confidence in the body.
That said, the only way is up for IAB which is virtually at rock bottom as a lobby group.
I worked under Paul at News Digital Media and he is a pretty determined operator, so I am sure he will give this a nudge.
His initial two priorities are resolving the measurement debate and also establishing closer ties with other media lobby groups (FreeTV, Commercial Radio). It's great to see someone from within the IAB come out and address these.
He starts 1 July.
I have to say, he has a tough task ahead of him. After the balls up that was the IAB Awards ceremony and process as well as the IAB being virtually invisible to the industry since inception it's going to be difficult to establish confidence in the body.
That said, the only way is up for IAB which is virtually at rock bottom as a lobby group.
I worked under Paul at News Digital Media and he is a pretty determined operator, so I am sure he will give this a nudge.
His initial two priorities are resolving the measurement debate and also establishing closer ties with other media lobby groups (FreeTV, Commercial Radio). It's great to see someone from within the IAB come out and address these.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
IAB Awards 2008 - recap
So the IABs have been and gone for another year. The 550+ turnout at Star City showed that there is support for the awards ... but the reception/respect the crowd gave the hosts and winners showed that maybe, just maybe, they're either not taken that seriously or some people working in digital don't care about celebrating/respecting great campaigns by at least listening to the winners announcements.
In above pic (left to right), Me, Bill Burton, Ben Maudsley, Leigh Lavery (thanks to Jodie from Drive for the pic)
Full winners can be found here --> http://www.iabawards.com.au/index.cfm?id=4
Media in short, Zenith Optimedia won in Auto for their work on Honda CRV, Mindshare Interaction won for ING Home Loans in the Finance category, Carat won for Tourism Australia in Travel, New Dialogue won for their Kevin 07 work in Fusion (which weirdly only had 2 finalists ...) and OMD won for V in the Retail category.
Creative wise, Visual Jazz won for both Fusion and Best in Show for Defence Jobs, New Dialogue for CommBank in Finance, Soap for Consumer Goods for Cornetto, DT Digital for Auto on Honda and Host for Travel for Tourism NZ.
DGM won the Search award for their work on Dell.
The best reactions seemed to be to some of the 'Workplace' videos (kudos to the Sensis video which had some staff dancing to Flo Rida) ... and host Natarsha Belling didn't follow up her 07 performance (she was snide and snappy ... sure, the crowd were tough - VERY TOUGH - but towards the end she wasn't doing much to diffuse the situation). Even though the awards were pretty short - quick speeches and not much fluff ... the crowd never seemed to be on board. I'm not sure if they were all hammered and that's what caused the problems ... but it's doubtful as the service was terrible!
Afterwards most of the attendees hit a bar in King St Wharf - can't remember the name - where the festivities continued until 5am (it was reported back to me - I shut up shop at 2am)
So where to now for the awards? I don't have the answers ... but I think they need a rejig. Many have commented on the quality of the judges and the need for improvement in future ... and many have reservations about how winners are actually judged ... given no entries are audited and year after year there are some extremely odd and anecdotal metrics given that seem to be accepted as fact.
I was sitting on the same table as two agency heads and both didn't seem too impressed with any part of the awards. One commented on how out of 80% of the finalists he has never seen any of the campaigns in situ.
Another question is - do we need a seperate 'digital' awards ceremony ... is this still relevant? Probably - but I think it needs a tweak.
Lastly - what was with the banging dance music when the winners were announced. I felt like I was at QBH on a Saturday night.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Oops Patrol - IAB - why your workplace is a great place to work
So IAB are undertaking an initiative where publishers/agencies etc involved in digital media make a short clip as to why their workplace is a great place to work.
Nice idea - you can view the videos here - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WB0onrd40EQ&feature=user
However, word has it one of the people featured on one of the videos saying how great the place was was actually walked from their employer a few weeks ago ...
Nice idea - you can view the videos here - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WB0onrd40EQ&feature=user
However, word has it one of the people featured on one of the videos saying how great the place was was actually walked from their employer a few weeks ago ...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
IAB Australia finalists announced
IAB have announced the finalists for the Australian IAB Awards. Taken from Ad News
MindShare Interaction (my employer) have been nominated for 4 awards - the most of any agency. OMD and Publicis took 3 nominations each.
CREATIVE FINALISTS
Category: Automotive
ninepixels - Lancer Supershort Series; ninemsn
DraftFCB - Honda CRV Online; Honda
DraftFCB - Honda Civic Type R Online; Honda
DTDigital – ASIMO; DTDigital
Category: Consumer Goods
Publicis Digital – STICK; Nestle Peters
NetX - Gillette Google Gadget; Gilette
Soap Creative – Cornetto; Streets
Publicis Digital - Well of Positivity; Mt Franklin
Category: Financial Services
New Dialogue – Dollarmites; Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Clemenger BLUE - Celebration Dance; National Australia Bank
OneDigital - OSA & SS Polling; HSBC
Category: Travel, Entertainment and Leisure
Host - Home Sweet As; Air New Zealand
CNET Networks Australia - CNET Networks Asia Pacific Grand Slam Mobile Gaming Tournament; CNET Networks Australia
Leo Burnett - Martin Merton; Leo Burnett
Soap Creative – Jumper; Soap Creative
Category: Fusion
Visual Jazz - Defencejobs Games; Defence Force Recruiting
Market United - Murdoch University Switching Campaign; Murdoch University
Leo Burnett - Name It; McDonald's
Market United - Murdoch University Discoverers; Murdoch University
Tequila - eBay Make Shopping Exciting; Tequila
MEDIA FINALISTS
Category: Automotive
Publicis Media - Honda CR-V; Honda
MEC:interaction - Lancer Supershort Series; Mitsubishi Motors
Starcom MediaVest - Impreza MY08; Subaru
MindShare Interaction - Ford Mondeo; Ford Motor Company of Australia
Category: Consumer Goods
OMD – V-Raw; V Energy Drink
MindShare Interaction - iinet Naked DSL launch; iinet
MindShare Interaction - Easy Mac; Kraft
OMD - Selleys BBQ Wipes; Selleys
Category: Financial Services
Initiative – RaboPlus; Rabobank Australia
MindShare Interaction - First Home Buyers Guide; ING Direct
Neo@Ogilvy - American Express; Neo@Ogilvy
Category: Travel, Entertainment and Leisure
Publicis Media - The Simpsons; 20th Century Fox
CNET Networks Australia - CNET Networks Asia Pacific Grand Slam Mobile Gaming Tournament; CNET Networks Australia
OMD - Shangri-La Business Travellers
Carat - Traveltainment; Tourism Australia
Category: Fusion
New Dialogue - Kevin07; Australian Labor Party
pureprofile/naked - Mount Franklin Well of Positivity; Coca-Cola Amatil
Category: Search
dgmAustralia - Dell Search; Dell
24/7 Real Media - CareerOne Search; CareerOne
Publicis Media - Domestic Hotels; Qantas Holidays
iProspect – Network Ten Search Engine Optimisation; Network Ten
MindShare Interaction (my employer) have been nominated for 4 awards - the most of any agency. OMD and Publicis took 3 nominations each.
CREATIVE FINALISTS
Category: Automotive
ninepixels - Lancer Supershort Series; ninemsn
DraftFCB - Honda CRV Online; Honda
DraftFCB - Honda Civic Type R Online; Honda
DTDigital – ASIMO; DTDigital
Category: Consumer Goods
Publicis Digital – STICK; Nestle Peters
NetX - Gillette Google Gadget; Gilette
Soap Creative – Cornetto; Streets
Publicis Digital - Well of Positivity; Mt Franklin
Category: Financial Services
New Dialogue – Dollarmites; Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Clemenger BLUE - Celebration Dance; National Australia Bank
OneDigital - OSA & SS Polling; HSBC
Category: Travel, Entertainment and Leisure
Host - Home Sweet As; Air New Zealand
CNET Networks Australia - CNET Networks Asia Pacific Grand Slam Mobile Gaming Tournament; CNET Networks Australia
Leo Burnett - Martin Merton; Leo Burnett
Soap Creative – Jumper; Soap Creative
Category: Fusion
Visual Jazz - Defencejobs Games; Defence Force Recruiting
Market United - Murdoch University Switching Campaign; Murdoch University
Leo Burnett - Name It; McDonald's
Market United - Murdoch University Discoverers; Murdoch University
Tequila - eBay Make Shopping Exciting; Tequila
MEDIA FINALISTS
Category: Automotive
Publicis Media - Honda CR-V; Honda
MEC:interaction - Lancer Supershort Series; Mitsubishi Motors
Starcom MediaVest - Impreza MY08; Subaru
MindShare Interaction - Ford Mondeo; Ford Motor Company of Australia
Category: Consumer Goods
OMD – V-Raw; V Energy Drink
MindShare Interaction - iinet Naked DSL launch; iinet
MindShare Interaction - Easy Mac; Kraft
OMD - Selleys BBQ Wipes; Selleys
Category: Financial Services
Initiative – RaboPlus; Rabobank Australia
MindShare Interaction - First Home Buyers Guide; ING Direct
Neo@Ogilvy - American Express; Neo@Ogilvy
Category: Travel, Entertainment and Leisure
Publicis Media - The Simpsons; 20th Century Fox
CNET Networks Australia - CNET Networks Asia Pacific Grand Slam Mobile Gaming Tournament; CNET Networks Australia
OMD - Shangri-La Business Travellers
Carat - Traveltainment; Tourism Australia
Category: Fusion
New Dialogue - Kevin07; Australian Labor Party
pureprofile/naked - Mount Franklin Well of Positivity; Coca-Cola Amatil
Category: Search
dgmAustralia - Dell Search; Dell
24/7 Real Media - CareerOne Search; CareerOne
Publicis Media - Domestic Hotels; Qantas Holidays
iProspect – Network Ten Search Engine Optimisation; Network Ten
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
IAB push back finalists announcement to March 27
IAB were due to announce finalists for the AU IAB Awards today (Tuesday 25)
In a massive surprise, they have pushed the date back to Thursday March 27.
I find it interesting and to be honest, irritating, that they decide at midday THE DAY NOMINIATIONS ARE DUE TO BE ANNOUNCED to then change the date. Poor form.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
IAB to meet re Measurement today
According to The Oz media section the IAB is meeting today and the main item on the agenda is trying to get the wheels in motion on a single audience measurement system.
Right now there's 2 Neilsen tools (Netview - Panel, Market Intelligence - Site Side) as well as Hitwise (ISP based).
Last November, the IAB announced that it favoured a panel based methodology as a single standard of measurement, raising the ire, allegedly, of media agencies.
However, I would hazard a guess that publishers would have been more cheesed off as they often claim panel based measurement (ie Netview) underestimates their actual numbers ... and it does if you compare domestic Market Intelligence numbers to Netview numbers across some key sites.
According to the article "Industry sources estimated the $370 million general internet advertising sector risked losing tens of millions of dollars from its failure to resolve the issue."
I am not sure it's this dire ... but it appears that measurement is an issue.
Thing is, I don't really think it is. I can only speak from first hand experience, but very rarely has a client of mine expressed much concern about measurement inconsistency ... mainly because we use a consolidated reporting tool and back it up with qualitative research in many cases (ie Dynamic Logic).
Yes, problems can appear if you rely on publisher side measurement, but 9.9999 times out of 10 this isn't required. Measurement does solve the pissing contests (ie unique users) for publishers but I think as time goes on people have stopped caring about sheer numbers aside some select placement.
Digital is more a quality equation than a numbers game for most - what is the point of reaching 1m people if you don't actually know what result it had on response or brand? What is the IAB doing to address this?
It sort of feels sometimes that the IAB takes so long to actually move that when they do the issue is irrelevant. Is this the case with the measurement debate?
Personally I feel there are more pressing issues they need to sort out - in particular creative consistency across major networks (ie not just the big 5) and also creative flexibility so we can start seeing the sort of executions we see from o/s.
Keen to hear your thoughts.
Article: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23286933-7582,00.html
Right now there's 2 Neilsen tools (Netview - Panel, Market Intelligence - Site Side) as well as Hitwise (ISP based).
Last November, the IAB announced that it favoured a panel based methodology as a single standard of measurement, raising the ire, allegedly, of media agencies.
However, I would hazard a guess that publishers would have been more cheesed off as they often claim panel based measurement (ie Netview) underestimates their actual numbers ... and it does if you compare domestic Market Intelligence numbers to Netview numbers across some key sites.
According to the article "Industry sources estimated the $370 million general internet advertising sector risked losing tens of millions of dollars from its failure to resolve the issue."
I am not sure it's this dire ... but it appears that measurement is an issue.
Thing is, I don't really think it is. I can only speak from first hand experience, but very rarely has a client of mine expressed much concern about measurement inconsistency ... mainly because we use a consolidated reporting tool and back it up with qualitative research in many cases (ie Dynamic Logic).
Yes, problems can appear if you rely on publisher side measurement, but 9.9999 times out of 10 this isn't required. Measurement does solve the pissing contests (ie unique users) for publishers but I think as time goes on people have stopped caring about sheer numbers aside some select placement.
Digital is more a quality equation than a numbers game for most - what is the point of reaching 1m people if you don't actually know what result it had on response or brand? What is the IAB doing to address this?
It sort of feels sometimes that the IAB takes so long to actually move that when they do the issue is irrelevant. Is this the case with the measurement debate?
Personally I feel there are more pressing issues they need to sort out - in particular creative consistency across major networks (ie not just the big 5) and also creative flexibility so we can start seeing the sort of executions we see from o/s.
Keen to hear your thoughts.
Article: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23286933-7582,00.html
Monday, February 18, 2008
IAB/PWC: Online Ad Growth currently at 19.5%
The IAB and PWC have released their Online Advertising Expenditure Report for the 12 months ending 31/12/07 and the results are interesting. If you compare Q4 2007 with Q4 2006, we're seeing growth of 19.5%
Usually these reports are greeted by all involved with requisite high fivery and back slapping ... but I would hazard a guess that when the last lot of data arrived the champagne would have stayed on ice.
Overall the industry is still experiencing solid growth - it's up 34.5% year on year. Display accounts for 28%, Classifieds 26% and Search 46%.
However these stats need to be analysed further. A common mistake many make is assuming ALL areas of online media are experiencing this 34.5% growth ... they're not.
Search is driving the growth, up 56% YOY (ie 06 to 07). Display was only up 21% from 06 to 07 ... this would be a concern to many, especially when you consider the industry had 56% growth from 05-06.
It is easy to assume 21% growth was not anticipated by most players, especially when numerous publishers I came across were forecasting 50% growth in their display business. I would hate to be a sales director at the moment looking at actual versus forecast.
Display, when you compare only Q4 06 to 04 07 is up 14% - compared to 29% for search. This shows minimal growth in what is generally the biggest quarter of the year. 14% growth would be celebrated by most media, but for online it's well below what is expected.
Adding more woe to the larger publishers is the fact more display dollars are going to what they refer to as 'the tail' ... ie anyone who isn't in the big 5. Some estimate this is 50% or more of total display spend ... which differs from a few years ago where the big 5 accounted for 75%+ of all display revenues.
Don't get me wrong, digital is still growing at fantastic rates ... but I think these results are a welcome reality check for many involved. For online to grow it is simply not enough to sit back and enjoy a category wide surge in spend ... the real winners moving forward, who see their own revenues increase higher than the overall industry, will be the ones who innovate and push forward what the definition of 'digital' media is ... from integration to video to content, search, mobile, digital outdoor, performance, analytics and beyond. This is something the industry as a whole needs to do - from publishers to media agencies to creative agencies and really starts at how digital is positioned within these environments. Those who have integrated digital, who have the right staff and the right learnings and the right experience are in the box seat.
For search the news is probably rosier than their display friends - now many are learning of the branding benefits and Google are seeing some great results in terms of expanding their product offering and the immediate advertiser benefits. One would predict that search can maintain current market growth domestically for the next 2 years. The issue for Yahoo! and MSN is that Google dominates this area.
I'm interested to get anyone elses opinion on the new IAB data ..
Usually these reports are greeted by all involved with requisite high fivery and back slapping ... but I would hazard a guess that when the last lot of data arrived the champagne would have stayed on ice.
Overall the industry is still experiencing solid growth - it's up 34.5% year on year. Display accounts for 28%, Classifieds 26% and Search 46%.
However these stats need to be analysed further. A common mistake many make is assuming ALL areas of online media are experiencing this 34.5% growth ... they're not.
Search is driving the growth, up 56% YOY (ie 06 to 07). Display was only up 21% from 06 to 07 ... this would be a concern to many, especially when you consider the industry had 56% growth from 05-06.
It is easy to assume 21% growth was not anticipated by most players, especially when numerous publishers I came across were forecasting 50% growth in their display business. I would hate to be a sales director at the moment looking at actual versus forecast.
Display, when you compare only Q4 06 to 04 07 is up 14% - compared to 29% for search. This shows minimal growth in what is generally the biggest quarter of the year. 14% growth would be celebrated by most media, but for online it's well below what is expected.
Adding more woe to the larger publishers is the fact more display dollars are going to what they refer to as 'the tail' ... ie anyone who isn't in the big 5. Some estimate this is 50% or more of total display spend ... which differs from a few years ago where the big 5 accounted for 75%+ of all display revenues.
Don't get me wrong, digital is still growing at fantastic rates ... but I think these results are a welcome reality check for many involved. For online to grow it is simply not enough to sit back and enjoy a category wide surge in spend ... the real winners moving forward, who see their own revenues increase higher than the overall industry, will be the ones who innovate and push forward what the definition of 'digital' media is ... from integration to video to content, search, mobile, digital outdoor, performance, analytics and beyond. This is something the industry as a whole needs to do - from publishers to media agencies to creative agencies and really starts at how digital is positioned within these environments. Those who have integrated digital, who have the right staff and the right learnings and the right experience are in the box seat.
For search the news is probably rosier than their display friends - now many are learning of the branding benefits and Google are seeing some great results in terms of expanding their product offering and the immediate advertiser benefits. One would predict that search can maintain current market growth domestically for the next 2 years. The issue for Yahoo! and MSN is that Google dominates this area.
I'm interested to get anyone elses opinion on the new IAB data ..
Monday, February 11, 2008
Dear IAB Australia ...
Will 2008s winning IAB Award submissions for 2008 be audited?
If not, why not? If so, who by?
If not, why not? If so, who by?
Monday, January 14, 2008
IAB Australia Awards - May 1 - entries now open
Haven't heard much about this as yet (the IAB PR department generally don't seem to tell the press much, either that or things are slow at IAB HQ) but agencies and marketers would be interested to know IAB submissions opened today.
Categories are
- Auto
- Financial Services
- Consumer Goods
- Travel, Entertainment & Leisure (why are these mashed into one category when generally all 3 categories have different goals)
- Fusion
- Search
There is also a Peoples Choice that will be voted for on the night (token popularity contest award)
Hopefully everyone puts forward their best campaigns and we can see a solid contest. And lets also hope that the submissions are audited and submissions aren't just unsubstantiated claims or clumsy data (ie we eclipsed the 'industry average' CTR by 150% - what does that mean.)
It will also be interesting to see the metrics entrants use - hopefully it moves beyond click through and landing page visits. Personally I want to see awards win that benefit the bottom line of the client (which is what is the most important).
Submissions close March 3. See you May 1 at Star City.
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