The Explosion of Online

Online advertising exceeded $12.5 billion dollars in 2005 and is expected to exceed $16 billion in 2006. Unlike the dark days of the dot.com boom, the growth has been propelled not by the irrationally exuberant “funny money” of dot.com fortunes, but by larger traditionally large-cap blue chip firms finding higher return on advertising dollars invested via on-line than off-line, as well as smaller local players, to who mass media was never within reach.

Media dollars are rapidly shifting from television, print, radio and other traditional media into the non-traditional venues of on-line, outdoor, buzz/event marketing, and other growth areas. The proliferation of media and advertising on everything from bathroom stall doors to humans selling parts of their bodies for advertiser’s logo tattoos, has created a mass confusion of “noise”. This over-saturation of marketing has lead to an ever-growing need to deliver more highly targeted, relevant and engaging media to customers and prospects.

The measurability of on-line is shedding light into the opaqueness of traditional “mass” market media. Traditional media are under increasing pressure to justify the previously automatic expenditures. It is a very exciting time for those who can show results, and a very scary time for those who cannot.

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