Web publishers, for whom online advertising is generally the bread and butter of their livelihood, have, naturally, been watching for changes in the online advertising market with anticipation. A look at economic projections has not been particularly reassuring, especially considering the generally-accepted idea that advertising is the line item to take a hit on a company’s budget when times are tough.

I wrote a month ago about a eMarketer study that showed search advertising growing at a faster clip than display advertising, which suggested that, in lean times, advertisers are more interested in measurable performance. A survey of 175 CMOs and marketing executives conducted by Epsilon shows that, indeed, among those who control the pursestrings, spending is generally being pared back. But, like the eMarketer study’s projections, those surveyed are increasingly moving their shrinking ad budgets online.

Here are the nuggets:

• 65% say their ad budgets are shrinking due to the poor economy
• 63% say their spend on interactive/digital advertising has risen (14% say it has decreased; 23% report it staying the same)
• 59% say spend on traditional media has dropped (13% increased; 29% stayed the same)
• when it comes to new media, 42% (the highest percentage) said that they plan on increasing spend in social media; blogs were #2 at 35%

True to the old adage, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, marketers are doing their best to squeeze as much performance possible out of every dollar spent. In the world of marketing and advertising, fortunately, new media and advertising technology is giving advertisers some opportunities.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Online Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.