The need to reinvent online advertising

An investigation shows online advertising is not as effective as television.

the web is new neon sign

Click fraud is costing US advertiser 6.4billion dollars a year reports Bloomberg Business.

The promise of internet advertising was that it could provide much more targeted audiences with far better, precision results.

It turns out the truth is different, with Bloomberg citing Heineken US who did a detailed analysis of their advertising returns to find, as the company’s Brand Director Ron Amram says, “giving money to the mob.”

While that news is bad, although not altogether surprising, for the digital media industry there’s even an even worse revelation from Heineken.

Digital’s return on investment was around 2 to 1, a $2 increase in revenue for every $1 of ad spending, compared with at least 6 to 1 for TV. The most startling finding: Only 20 percent of the campaign’s “ad impressions”—ads that appear on a computer or smartphone screen—were even seen by actual people.

That major brands are television is three times more effective than digital puts online advertisers in a bad position, although social media gurus have long argued companies can’t measure return on investment from their efforts.

Ultimately though the Bloomberg story shows we need a new model, applying broadcast advertising conventions to online services isn’t working. We’re still waiting for a new David Sarnoff to come along.

 

Similar posts:

  • No Related Posts

Author: Paul Wallbank

Paul Wallbank is a speaker and writer charting how technology is changing society and business. Paul has four regular technology advice radio programs on ABC, a weekly column on the smartcompany.com.au website and has published seven books.

One thought on “The need to reinvent online advertising”

  1. Hi Paul, certainly interesting times ahead in the digital ad space but I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom. After all no one ever clicked on a roadside billboard, but they keep putting them up.

Leave a Reply