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Step Off Old Media: It’s Time for the Internet to Eat Your Pricey Lunch

Posted on | January 8, 2008 | No Comments

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A year ago I was at a dinner party where a VP from a major advertising firm told me that no matter what her luxury clients HAVE to be in the first 5 pages of Vogue. “It’s necessary for branding,” she said.

Last month a rep from another luxury brand did not want to pay for a $200 ad on SheFinds.com, but wanted us to write about, for a commission on sales, the ad they were running about their new handbag in the New York Times.
“Are you paying the New York Times on commission?” I asked
“Uh no.”

Old habits die hard and we’re still on the tip of the iceberg waiting for the money to move from old to new media. What I don’t understand is why it’s moving at such a glacial pace.

The evidence is already in –
Give another point to the “print is dying” crowd; new numbers reveal that, in the third quarter of 2007, online newspaper advertising grew and the traditional type dropped.
[webpronews]
Newspaper Online Advertising Surges 21% in Q3, Print Ads Down 7%
[marketingvox]

Being an online publisher who gets crumbs after the big ad buys are made at Hearst, New York Times, Conde Nast and Time Inc I was quite thrilled to see that ZenithOptimedia forcasts Internet ad spend: will overtake radio ad spend in 2008; comprise a double-digit share of global advertising in 2009; and surpass magazines in ad dollars by 2010, with 11.5 percent of total ad spend. [paid content]
The tide is turning….slowly.

Estimates from Lehman Brothers. Predict online ad revenues in United States to grow 25.6 percent, 23.6 percent and 20 percent in 2007, ’08 and 09. [paid content]

As all of this happens I expect overall advertising budgets to shrink. Media Planners will stop thinking about mass impressions and instead reach who they want to impress on vertical sites. When most everything is online and the audience pie is sliced to psychographic extremes niche publishers like myself will win by being able to target the desired audience. And hurray for the looming recession with an economic downturn or worse, a recession looming, marketers will “likely drive more money to the Internet,” which is more cost effective than other media.
[mediapost and wsj back me up]

Yes search engine marketing will still be big, but search only works for something people are already looking for. You need branding display ads to get the word out about something never before seen or heard of. So I quibble with eMarketer’s assertion that Paid Search will continue to beat display and rich media ads in market share throughout the decade.


As the big branding money is moved from offline to online we’re going to see an increased need to get in front of targeted eyeballs to inform, instruct and inspire a purchase. Search only works when there’s already a need. If a marketer is trying to create a new category or drum up desire – they can’t rely on search — they need the maven status of niche media sites.

Just try to sell Treggings, Bosom Buttons or Zakkerz using paid search terms….

Michelle Madhok is an online shopping expert. She is also the CEO of White Cat Media – the publisher of SheFinds.com and MomFinds.com

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