Internet News
May 19th, 2008 by gibsondirect
Interesting news from the DMA…
STUDY FINDS INTERNET INFLUENCE SMALL WHEN BUYING. The Internet isroutinely used when making buying decisions, but its influence is small compared with offline channels such as friends and sales personnel, a new study finds. Sunday’s report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project looked at consumer behavior in purchasing music, cell phones, and homes or renting apartments. It found the Internet’s role to be indirect. Only about 10% of real estate and cell phone buyers and 7% of music purchasers credit the Internet with having a major impact on their decision. And only a small portion —22% of the music buyers and 12% of cell phone purchasers — ultimately bought their product over the Internet.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
ONLINE SEARCH ADS FARING BETTER THAN EXPENSIVE DISPLAYS. In the past few years, Web publishers have made a big bet on booming online advertising revenues. But the economic slowdown may be throwing a wrench into those plans. While search advertising remains strong, there are signs that the growth in online advertising — particularly in more elaborate display ads — is slowing down. In the past few weeks, major online-advertising players, like Yahoo and Time Warner, have posted mixed results. And online publishers may be getting less money for the ad space they do sell. The prices paid for online ads bought through ad networks dropped 23% from March to April, according to PubMatic, an advertising-technology company that runs an online-pricing index. Large Web publishers fared the worst in PubMatic’s study, with the prices they received through networks dropping 52%.
