Page 180 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING

• Pinpoint targeting of consumers
• Accurate measurement of ad investment

The weakness of TV advertising is the strength of the Internet. That’s
why many large companies, like Procter & Gamble, are moving some of
their ad spending from TV to the Web. P&G, the maker of many popu-
lar consumer products such as Crest toothpaste, Ivory soap, and Herbal
Essence shampoo, used to spend 90 percent of its advertising budget
on TV. Today, it’s spending less than one-third on TV. Instead, the
company is using a multimedia approach to personalized marketing.
A faster Internet has allowed Web sites and advertisers to use more
video-based and interactive content. High-speed broadband is now
used by more than 50 percent of Internet surfers, opening opportunities
for advertisers to use rich-media ads versus the original static banners
or buttons. For our ad-weary society, it’s a way to add interactivity and
personalization to marketing messages.

170 Searching for Ad Revenues on the Web
Search engine marketing has become an important source of advertising
on the Internet. Since the dot.com bust at the turn of the 21st century,
online advertising has evolved from ubiquitous banners and buttons to
subtle search engine text-linked ads. Thanks in part to this evolution,
online ad revenues have soared.
The Web has allowed businesses that can’t afford TV or other mass
media to market products and services to local and global audiences.
Many companies with niche products have found success on the Inter-
net through search engine marketing, the largest segment of Internet
advertising. Paid-search marketing allows a company to deliver a mes-
sage right to the screen of a person searching for specific information
on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, or other search engines.
In 1998, no search engines offered paid ad listings within their search
results. As of late 2004, paid search is a $3.9 billion business and accou-
nts for 40 percent of online ad revenue. Advertisers like this approach
because it’s nonintrusive, consumer driven, and voluntary. In addition,
new technologies have been introduced that increase the customiza-
tion of search requests and help users keep track of past usage. Amazon
has introduced A9.com, a search service that allows users to store and
edit bookmarks, keep track of links clicked from previous visits to a
Web page, and make personal notes on those pages for later viewing.