While they regard digital media as viable, the majority of industry leader respondents to an American Advertising Federation (AAF) survey have some reservations about their own and corporate America’s current ability to fully capitalize on the potential of online advertising. Sixty-three percent of respondents believe that Fortune 500 companies are “generally behind the curve when it comes to online ad strategy.” And 58 percent said that they are personally “struggling simply to manage existing online efforts, let alone stay ahead of the curve.”
At the same time, feedback showed that 91 percent of those surveyed are bullish on digital marketing, characterizing the online media environment as being “empowering to advertisers, allowing the ad industry to shape its own development.” Digital media’s return on investment (ROI) was also recognized by respondents, with 42 percent citing paid search as offering the highest ROI platform.
But there are some reservations. Advertising executives find blogs a riskier, less effective advertising vehicle than user-generated content sites such as MySpace, YouTube and Facebook. Sixty-two percent stated that “blogs are too risky to advertise on due to lack of predictability of the editorial content,” while only 53 percent agreed with the same statement about user-generated content. Despite these concerns, an overwhelming majority said advertisers “should exploit the viral marketing opportunities” of user-generated sites and, to a lesser degree, blogs.
Other findings of the survey, which was prepared by Atlantic Media Company for the AAF, included:
- Online video has not yet had a significant impact on ad spend with television network upfront markets. Sixty-two percent of those that participate in TV upfront said online video did not have an effect on their spend with networks, and only 15 percent said online video decreased their network spend.
- Advertising industry leaders forecast expanded ad budgets across online media as a whole. Average spending on online advertising, as a percentage of the total media budget, is anticipated to increase from 15 percent in 2005 to 20 percent in 2006, and forecasted to reach 32 percent by 2010.
- New media platforms will get only a small percentage of online budgets next year, with social media and video getting the top percentage of spend.
- Paid search is set to increase from nine percent of the online budget in 2005 to 11 percent in 2006 and 23 percent in 2010.
- Display advertising is set to increase from 22 percent in 2005 to 28 percent in 2006, but will decrease by over half to 13 percent in 2010.
- Rich media will increase from 11 percent in 2005 to 13 percent in 2006 and 18 percent in 2010.
- And the top five most successful digital media campaigns over the last year were 1) Burger King; 2) Apple and Verizon (tie); 4) Volkswagen and 5) Axe.
The AAF Survey of Industry Leaders on Digital Media Trends was released last week during the recently concluded AAF National Conference 2006 in San Francisco. A total of 140 advertising industry leaders responded to the survey. They were spread across agency (23 percent), media (28 percent), client (7 percent) and other (22 percent, composed mostly of consultants and researchers) sectors. Sixty percent have worked in the advertising industry for more than 15 years, and 30 percent for 25-plus years.
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles โ "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson โ that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More