Firms increasingly focussing on web promotion

These days, market intelligence and internet monitoring are two major aspects of business. This is no surprise. Competition between many firms is becoming increasingly intense and enterprises are desperate to outmanoeuvre one another. Also, the use of the web among consumers is growing and now cyberspace represents a major opportunity for trading and interacting with customers.

New research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggests companies’ engagement with the internet is expanding yet further. The firms found that over the course of last year, organisations in the UK spent more than £4 billion on web advertising. Indeed, the figure, which was £4.097 billion, represented growth of £12.8 per cent compared with the previous 12-month period.Of course, firms that shelled out on such marketing may well be eager to engage in internet monitoring and other forms of market intelligence to see how successful their efforts were.

Meanwhile, the IAB and PwC revealed that the total spending on advertising in 2010 was £16.6 billion. This means the proportion of marketing budgets taken up by online activities was around a quarter, which was up from 23 per cent in 2009.
According to those behind the study, the statistics show that, despite the economic problems being felt in Britain, online advertising is doing well. They added that marketers are using online channels to raise the profiles of businesses.

Responding to the findings, chief executive officer of the IAB Guy Phillipson said: “Major brands restored their advertising budgets in 2010 and online was a big winner.”He went on to state: “The power of online to build brands is clearly reflected in the spectacular growth of display, thanks to the popularity of social media and video formats. And with mobile advertising finally coming of age, marketers are enjoying an incredible array of digital opportunities.”