Online ads start to click with big spenders

By ELLEN READ

Research shows Australia's online advertising market is growing, and experts say the same thing is happening in New Zealand.

Australia's top advertisers are demanding their agencies include online advertising as part of the marketing mix, says a report from independent researcher Taylor Nelson Sofres.

It shows that 70 per cent of Australia's top 150 advertisers use online advertising, and that 25 per cent of those not using it say they plan to start doing so in the next six months.

The research was commissioned by Australian online publishers f2 Network, News Interactive, ninemsn and Yahoo! Australia & NZ.

Internet Bureau managing director John Stewart said increasing numbers of people were using online advertising in New Zealand and the types of ads they are running were evolving.

People were progressing from banner ads to larger formats, animated images and graphics.

"People are getting a bit more creative and emotive. The banner ad was a bit like a neon billboard," Stewart said.

A change in public habits was also helping the popularity of online advertising.

Where people might once have spent whole evenings slumped in from of television sets, they were now more likely to log into home computers.

The Australian report said nearly 60 per cent of Australia's top advertisers found online effective for meeting most marketing objectives and 40 per cent of the top advertisers were now classed as true advocates, a group that used the method frequently and found it effective.

The research found that membership of this group, which is made up of those who allocate more than 5 per cent of their total ad spending to online advertising, is set to increase.

It said the group would account for 17 per cent of top advertisers this year, compared with 10 per cent last year.

Clients who had used online successfully were returning with an increased understanding of its importance and in most cases were increasing their spending accordingly, said Warren Bright, managing director of News Interactive.

The report said advertising agencies held the key to further growth in online advertising as only 24 per cent of the top advertisers said that their agencies recommend online advertising to them regularly.

Seventy per cent of occasional internet advertisers said the information they were receiving from their agency about online opportunities was inadequate.

"Our focus as the major media players must be to work closely with agencies to increase their understanding and ability to recommend and develop online advertising as an important and significant part of every campaign," said Steve Vamos, chief executive of ninemsn.

Stewart said that in New Zealand, the development of an audience measurement standard would improve the information available.

"It will provide a level of information comparable to what's available for other media in terms of audience."

He said this would be dependable information that agencies would be able to provide to their clients.