According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, online ad revenues in the U.S. exceeded $5.2 billion in Q3 2007. In the first nine months of the year, online advertisers spent $15.1 billion, a 26% increase over the $12.1 billion for the same period in 2006.Â
In the UK, per IAB, online advertising spending for the first half of 2007 was only $2.7 billion, but it is growing at a spectacular rate of 41.3%, compared to the previous year.
Ad dollars are shifting away from traditional media, including network television. During the first half of 2007, U.S. network TV advertising fell 3.6% from a year earlier to $11.8 billion., reports Forbes magazine. Total ad spending in the U.S. for all media slipped to $72.6 billion.
The current TV writers strike won't help the trend. Major advertisers will continue to buy TV after the strike. But during the strike, if the number of viewers drops due to re-runs, marketers will find extra money in their budgets to spend in other mediums. This will enable them to experiment in the trackable world of online advertising, which may result in a migration of ad dollars to online and from TV.
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Why should stock photographers care? The stock photo industry has been built around selling images to print media and to a lesser extent TV. As print and TV advertising declines, the need for editorial content will also decline. Granted, as print uses decline there may be increased need for images online. But online is paying much less, some say as low as one-tenth traditional print use prices.. This trend may have a major impact on stock photography.