FUEL LINES Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media

According to a new report from The Nielsen Company, Americans have nearly tripled the amount of time they spend at social networking and blog sites from a year ago. In August 2009, 17 percent of all time spent on the Internet was at social networking sites, up from 6 percent in August 2008.

“This growth suggests a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used,” said Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights, Nielsen’s online division. “While video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth.”

Advertisers are starting to take note of Social Media’s growth:

• Estimated online advertising spending on the top social network and blogging sites increased 119 percent.
• Share of estimated spend on social media sites has doubled.
• While several industries decreased their overall online ad spend year-over-year in August, spending on the top social network sites increased across the board.
• The Entertainment Industry led in growing its online ad dollars, increasing ad spending on the top social network sites by 812 percent in August.
• Travel advertisers increased their ad spend on these sites by 364 percent.
• The growth of social networking sites has been fueled in part by the explosive growth of Facebook, and it is to this site that many industries head when planning their online ad dollars.

“In the past, advertisers had significant concerns with social media advertising,” said Gibs. “The considerable increases we’ve seen in ad spending over the past year suggest that many of these concerns have subsided or been addressed.”

Read the full press release.

Social Media is also impacting ad agency new business …

• Four Ways Social Media is Changing Advertising Agencies New Business
• Ad agency having explosive new business growth by leading with social media
• Ad Agency Survey Finds Traditional New Business Methods Aren’t Working
• “Social Media ‘Teaches’ Ad Agencies to Promote Themselves the Right Way”
• Major Shift in Advertising Means a Shift for Agency New Business Practices

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 11:07 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.