Putting Their Money Where Their Mouths Are – Two Major Digital News Players Invest in Online Ad Campaigns

Philip Stone November 24, 2004

When two such media stalwarts as the Financial Times and Reuters decide to promote their web services via major internet advertising campaigns it sends a strong message through the industry that they themselves have great faith in their web businesses.

Ft.com is a subscription site. Reuters’ various web sites are advertising supported. FT.com is spending its entire Q4 ad budget, some GBP100,000, on the digital platform trying to entice subscribers who are not already Financial Times readers. Reuters has embarked on a four-week digital campaign to boost its drive to go beyond wholesale and directly serve the consumer.

The FT’s goal is to increase its subscriber base to 100,000.  It’s major competition, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), with some 700,000 subscriptions to its web site, earlier this month took a different marketing tact and opened its subscription-only site to free use for five days.

The FT and Reuters campaigns give an insight to why Internet advertising is the fastest growing ad spend forum. According to ZenithOptimedia, the Internet will absorb approximately $12.8 billion of the global advertising spend in 2004 – some 3.5% of the total spend. By 2006 that figure is forecast to grow to $16.2 billion – 4% of the then total advertising spend and a 26% increase.

That Internet advertising increase comes out of the pockets of newspapers. While newspapers are still by far the world’s second leading preference for advertising with some 29.9% of the global spend forecast for 2004 (television tops the table with 37.5%), the newspaper percentage is forecast to dip to 29.6% by 2006 (television grows to 37.7%) with overall newspaper advertising revenues increasing by 9.5% on a higher overall spend.

 

 

 

Yes, it's Britney

Although Internet advertising numbers looks encouraging, a search beneath the surface shows why Ft.com  and WSJ in particular need to promote themselves. In the US, according to the Online Publishers Association, business/investment content which had long held the position as the second largest paid content category on the Internet, has dropped to third this year behind entertainment/lifestyles where the spend has risen 78.3% thus far this year, mostly from online music sales. 

The statistics show it is the young flocking to the Internet, and buying business news and information is not foremost on their minds.  How long is it going to take before a clever FT, WSJ, or Reuters marketing-type signs Britney Spears to put the Dow Jones Averages and other financial information to music every day?

Trivia: What is the leading paid content on the Internet? Dating/personal

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