Canadian online advertising revenue grows to $1.6b, surpasses radio

IAB Canada Newsletters - The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB) today announced that Canadian Online Advertising Revenues exceeded budgeted expectations of $1.5 billion, and grew by 29% in 2008 to just over $1.6 billion.

Publisher revenue from Online advertising in Canada has more than quadrupled over the past five years -- building from $364 million in 2004 to the $1.6 billion mark in 2008 -- surpassing 2008 Radio revenues of $1.55 billion in the process.

Online Advertising now occupies third spot in terms of both time spent by consumers with media, as well as marketing spend by Advertisers, representing a full 11% of the combined $14 billion spent on all major media in Canada (TV, Newspapers, Internet, Radio, Magazines and Out Of Home).

Of the $1.6 billion, approximately $317 million or 20% of Online ad revenue was received by French Canadian Online publishing properties, representing year-over-year growth of 22%.

Search advertising (at 38% of total revenues), continues to lead in terms of share of dollars, followed by Display at 31%, and Classifieds at 30%. Online Video advertising grew by 33% from its relatively small base of $9 million in 2007 to $12 million in 2008, while Email advertising stayed stable at approximately $18 million.

2008 Canadian Online Ad Revenue by Advertiser Category was also tabulated, and was as follows:

# Automotive - 13%;
# Financial - 11%;
# Technology - 10%;
# Telecommunications - 9%;
# Packaged Goods - 8%;
# Media + Entertainment (Music, Film, TV) - 6%;
# Leisure (Travel, Hotel, Hospitality) - 6%;
# Retail - 5%; and,
# Other - 32%. Publishers within IAB Canada’s Annual Revenue Survey have projected that their revenues will continue to grow at an enviable pace, with Online Advertising Revenue in Canada estimated to be $1.75 billion in 2009, or 9.2% more than the 2008 actuals. This forecast includes a 7.8% increase to $342 million for French Publishers’ Online advertising revenue.

“Even in the face of uncertain economic conditions and continued pressure on total advertising budgets, clearly, Online advertising has cemented itself as a mainstay in the overall media buy,” says Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “And although 2009 has presented substantial challenges to the entire Canadian marketing community, we’re confident that Online advertising will continue to grow at the projected pace, for the simple reason that as the Internet continues to engage and delight consumers, it matches these accomplishments with a persistent ability to deliver measureable Advertiser results.”

Download the Detailed IAB Canada 2008 Actuals/2009 Budgeted Internet Advertising Revenue Report.

Canada's Internet lags behind other countries: Study

CanWest — Canada is lagging behind other industrialized countries because it forces consumers to pay high prices for slow broadband Internet service, says a recent report by Harvard University.

The 232-page report by the school's Berkman Center for Internet and Society gave Canada an overall ranking of 22 out of 30 countries, based on the affordability, accessibility and speed of the country's broadband Internet.

Released late Wednesday, the report, which was commissioned for the Federal Communications Commission — the U.S. counterpart of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — also placed Canada 25th in affordability of the Internet.

"The highest prices for the lowest speeds are overwhelmingly offered by firms in the United States and Canada, all of which inhabit markets structured around 'inter-modal' competition — that is, competition between one incumbent owning a telephone system, and one incumbent owning a cable system," said the report.

Canada also ranked 16th in the category of access to wireless technology, down from second place in 2003.

The report even singles out Canada as a country where Internet policies should not be mirrored.

"As with speed and entry-level prices, however, Canada's performance merits caution when observing its policies," it said. "While penetration there is high, not only is speed lower, but prices, too, are high in every tier of service."

The report blamed the low rankings on the country's "regulatory hesitation."

"Canada looks like a case where the concern for incumbent investment incentives, without quite reaching to the level of abstention, resulted in a weaker version of unbundling than was implemented in many of the other countries we reviewed here," it said.

Michael Geist, a professor at the University of Ottawa, said Thursday he wasn't surprised by the results of the study.

"Frankly, countries all around the world typically get far better deals for much faster speeds than Canadians experience, and they get it for far less," he told Global News.

Meanwhile, Finland officials announced Thursday that the country will now guarantee all citizens be legally entitled to a minimum broadband connection speed of one megabit per second.

It's the first country in the world to make universal minimum Internet access speeds a legal requirement.

10 news media content in 2010

From Mashable:

The news media is experiencing a renaissance. As we end the year, its state in 2009 can be summarized as a year of turmoil, layoffs and cutbacks in an industry desperately seeking to reinvent its business model and content. But despite the thousands of journalism jobs lost, the future has much hope and opportunity for those that are willing to adapt to a changing industry.

Much of that change is happening now. And in the coming year, news organizations will look to approach monetization and content experimentation that is focused on looking at the web in a new way. News (news) in 2010 will blur the lines between audience and creator more than ever in an era of social media. Below is a look at several trends in content distribution and presentation that we will likely see more of in 2010.

Full story here.

1. Living Stories
2. Real-Time News Streams
3. Blogozines
4. Distributed Social News
5. News Goes Mobile
6. The Year of Geo-Location
7. Story-Streaming
8. Social TV Online
9. Marketers as Producers
10. Social News Gaming

'News should come to us'

Professor Jeff Jervis in New York predicts that streaming will be the next mainstream media format. Bye bye websites....

Tweet: What does the post-page, post-site, post-media media world look like? @stephenfry, that’s what.

The next phase of media, I’ve been thinking, will be after the page and after the site. Media can’t expect us to go to it all the time. Media has to come to us. Media must insinuate itself into our streams.

Time spent on newspaper websites drops

Editor and Publisher - The average time spent per person at the top newspaper Web sites took a hit in November compared to the presidential election month of November 2008.

Of the top 30 Web sites, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had the highest average time per person at 23 minutes and 38 seconds.

Nielsen Online, which provided the data, defines the time per person as the average time spent at the site over the course of a month. (Nielsen also vastly expanded its panels in June 2009 and that could affect year-over-year trending.)

Below is the average time spent per person (hours: minutes: seconds) in November 2009 compared to November 2008, ranked by unique users.

For the October list, go here.

NYTimes.com -- 0:17:17 -- 0:36:32
washingtonpost.com -- 0:10:52 -- 0:14:15
LA Times -- 0:07:15 -- 0:07:07
USATODAY.com -- 0:14:21 -- 0:15:58
Wall Street Journal Online -- 0:08:35 -- 0:11:57

Daily News Online Edition -- 0:05:16 -- 0:05:29
New York Post -- 0:08:41 -- 0:09:55
Chicago Tribune -- 0:10:35 -- 0:07:12
Boston.com -- 0:15:47 -- 0:13:27
SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle -- 0:09:16 -- 0:12:05

Politico -- 0:08:17 -- 0:10:45
TBO.com -- 0:04:29 -- 0:14:51
Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 0:23:38 -- 0:11:08
Chicago Sun-Times -- 0:07:19 -- 0:06:47
NJ.com -- 0:10:49 -- 0:06:37

DallasNews.com - The Dallas Morning News -- 0:08:11 -- 0:06:10
Seattle Times Company Online Network -- 0:12:20 -- 0:07:55
MercuryNews.com -- 0:04:16 -- 0:05:11
The Houston Chronicle -- 0:14:36 -- 0:22:15
Baltimore Sun -- 0:06:07 -- 0:09:03

Philly.com -- 0:17:37 -- 0:07:54
Newsday -- 0:07:26 -- 0:05:08
Orlando Sentinel -- 0:06:23 -- 0:07:30
The Washington Times -- 0:05:14 -- 0:04:41
MiamiHerald.com -- 0:06:08 -- 0:04:47

tampabay.com -- 0:04:32 -- 0:06:14
The Denver Post -- 0:07:37 -- 0:04:50
Azcentral.com -- 0:12:46 -- 0:09:16
Star Tribune -- 0:20:02 -- 0:20:32
KansasCity.com -- 0:09:54 -- 0:04:20

Most visited web site and most searched term in 2009

clickz - Facebook was the most searched term during 2009, according to Hitwise. Citing data collected between January and November 2009, the online measurement firm reckons the social networking site accounted for 0.67 percent of all searches during that period.

Rival social networking site MySpace was second overall for the year, but the continued growth of Facebook saw it rise from 10th position in 2008 to overtake its rival in 2009.

Facebook was also the third most visited Web site of the year, Hitwise says, behind Google and Yahoo's mail product, which came first and second, respectively, for the second year running.

Overall, Google accounted for 6.7 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2009. Yahoo Mail accounted for 4.44 percent of visits, followed by Facebook with 4.26 percent, Yahoo with 3.36 percent, and MySpace at 3 percent.

Top 10 Most Searched Terms
2009 2008
facebook myspace
myspace craigslist
craigslist ebay
youtube google
yahoo mail myspace.com
google yahoo
yahoo youtube
ebay yahoo mail
facebook login yahoo.com
myspace.com facebook
Source: Experian Hitwise

Top 10 Most Visited Web Sites Among U.S. Users
2009 2008
www.google.com www.google.com
mail.yahoo.com mail.yahoo.com
www.facebook.com www.myspace.com
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
www.myspace.com mail.live.com
mail.live.com www.ebay.com
www.youtube.com search.yahoo.com
search.yahoo.com www.msn.com
www.msn.com www.facebook.com
www.ebay.com www.youtube.com
Source: Experian Hitwise

Ads going real-time

Dynamic ads: Offered by TheDigitel in Charleston, S.C., this tool allows advertisers to change ad content dynamically via a text message, Facebook or blog update, or using a Twitter or Flickr photo feed. "If you can feed it, our thing can eat it," claims TheDigitel's website. Advertisers fill out a form to create the ad and designate which parts are static, and which are dynamic.

8 must-have traits of tomorrow’s journalist

Another good article from Marshable about journalism of tomorrow:

As the news industry looks to reconstruct its suffering business model, the journalists of today must reconstruct their skill sets for the growing world of online media. Because of cutbacks at many news organizations, the jobs available are highly competitive. News companies are seeking journalists who are jacks of all trades, yet still masters of one (or more).

2010 will likely be a time of transition as today’s journalists catch up to learn the multimedia, programming, social media, and business skills they’ll need to tell their stories online. These new skills are especially relevant to startups that are looking to hire multi-skilled and social media-savvy journalists. Below we’ve gathered some skills that are quickly becoming basic requirements for the journalist of tomorrow. These skills are presented in no particular order.

Full story here.

1. Entrepreneurial and Business Savvy
2. Programmer
3. Open-minded Experimenter
4. Multimedia Storyteller
5. The Social Journalist and Community Builder
6. Blogger and Curator
7. Multi-skilled
8. Fundamental Journalism Skills

8 news media business trends for 2010

8 new trends for 2010 from Marshable:

With the news industry struggling to find new revenue streams that can reshape their broken business model, 2010 will be defined by experiments in news media monetization. This will also include content that is guided more than ever by the audience and ad revenue.

This coming year we will also see the results of news organizations putting pay walls up, as well as new experimental models like accepting Web donations from readers — some of which may prove to be successful. Below are eight emerging news media business trends to look for in 2010.

Full story here.

1. Social Media Monetization
2. Revenue Beyond Advertising
3. As Publications Fold, Others Become Lean and Mean
4. Growth in Hyperlocal and Community Models
5. Local Advertising Grows
6. Local Advertising Models Emerge
7. To Charge or Not To Charge?
8. The Freemium Model

How we can save newspapers

The Independent - Is it time governments got involved with supporting the world of news-gathering?

The two best print newspapers in the United States – the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the Christian Science Monitor – have just died. The New York Times is nearly bankrupt, and the Los Angeles Times is already there. In beds all around them in the Emergency Room, the world's newspapers are being fed ink on a drip, as ashen relatives stand and stare. How many of them will survive this depression? And what would a world with drastically fewer people gathering and sifting the news look like?

Newspapers are in a bizarre position. More people are reading the stories we write than ever before: via the web, we have a higher readership than in the most inky-fingered Golden Age. But we are withering. Why?

Since the mid-19th century, newspaper readers haven't had to pick up the full tab for putting the paper together and delivering it to your breakfast table. First they were subsidised by governments or political parties. Then they were paid for primarily by advertisers who want to sell you stuff. The price on the cover is only a small fraction of the money it takes to pay for gathering the news.

This model is ailing now because, as Professor Paul Starr of Princeton explains: "Until recently, the internet seemed primarily to be additive, vastly enlarging the opportunities for self-expression and public debate, while newspapers and other old media continued serving their old functions, such as financing the bulk of original reporting for the general public." You increasingly read it online, but the bill was picked up by print readers and print advertising.

But this could only ever last for a transitional decade. As more and more readers begin to click rather than flick, it is almost over. The problem is that an online reader is worth 10 per cent of a print reader to advertisers. So for every reader you lose on the page, you need to gain 10 on the screen. The sums don't add up – so the newspapers are sickening and shedding staff.

Does it matter? There are some reasons to scorn newspapers in the US, where the press is unusually pompous and proud and protective of the interests of the powerful while bragging about its "balance." Yes, advertising-funded newspapers are a fractured lens on the world, unconsciously under-reporting anything that threatens the interests of their paymasters. The recently reissued book Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky shows this brilliantly: it's why almost all newspapers failed on Iraq, on the disastrous effects of deregulation, and now on the climate crisis. But today, we are facing the possibility of replacing this fractured lens with no lens at all.

When I last wrote about the need to save newspapers, one reader snapped: "Why don't you launch a campaign to save CB radios too?" But CB radios don't play a crucial role in a democracy. It has been put best by Joe Matthews, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, who says: "With fewer watchdogs, you get less barking: corruption undiscovered, events not witnessed, tips about problems that never reach anyone's ears because those ears have left the newsroom. How can we know what we'll never know?"

A recent study in The Journal of Law, Economics and Organisation found that one of the biggest single factors in reducing corruption in a country is "the free circulation of daily newspapers per person." Go to any country, and you'll find that the lower the newspaper circulation, the higher the corruption. If nobody's watching, anything goes.

As inky news-gatherers vanish, there is a vacuum that online journalists are not able to fill. With less advertising cash and no upfront payments from the readers at all, they have far less money to send out foreign correspondents, assign people to tricky investigations, or do the long slog that journalism so often requires. Look at the best political site, the Huffington Post, for which – in the interests of full disclosure – I should point out I write. As they are the first to admit, HufPo pays nothing to its contributors, and it knows what is happening in the world only because newspapers send out correspondents. If they vanish, blogs will be left in an airless cabin, talking only about themselves.

This doesn't have to happen. Many people in the increasingly frantic newspaper industry whisper about potential techno-solutions. Some say an easy system of online micro-payments – an i-Tunes for the news – will save us. Others invest hope in the Kindle, the hand-held device on which you can buy a newspaper. But we can't afford to wait for them to go mainstream: journalism's accumulated structures, brands and wisdom could be lost forever by then.

There is a better way. In an age of bailouts, several European governments are experimenting with ways to support the world of news-gathering so it will survive for the 21st century. The best plan has come from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He has launched a programme where every French citizen, on her 18th birthday, will be given a year's free subscription to a newspaper of her choice. The effects are subtle. Many young readers will develop a newspaper habit. In turn, newspapers will compete harder to capture this lucrative guaranteed market, and make their product accessible and fresh. A benevolent whirl replaces the current death-spiral.

Of course there is a terrible danger in making newspapers dependent on the government's actions. Nobody wants that. But there are ways to avoid this trap. In 1971, the Swedish government set up a system of subsidies to newspapers allocated by an independent body on the basis of circulation and revenue data. Intriguingly, the Swedish press became more adversarial and critical after it was introduced, not less.

As the thud of falling newspapers echoes across the Atlantic, we can't afford to dawdle. Good newspapers – for all their flaws and selective vision – are the sinews of representative government. In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter." Unless we act now, fast, we may be left with the opposite: a government, but no newspapers left to monitor them.

Evolution over Revolution: Canadian marketers tiptoe into the digital age

Ipsos Reid study - The digital revolution has overtaken the world in nearly every corner of technology and commerce. Yet for those traditional bastions of trend spotters, trend setters, and trend followers – the marketer – the approach and embrace of the new digital era is taken with a degree of caution. At first look, it appears that Canadian marketers are taking a more evolutionary approach in tackling the digital world, preferring to first build on their own knowledge and experience with the medium before fully embracing it. There is some merit to a cautious approach, but being too cautious or too slow to embrace the digital era comes with some risk.

This past October, Ipsos Reid launched the findings of a new study conducted in collaboration with the Canadian Marketing Association. The study specifically asked marketers about their thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours toward the expanding world of digital marketing, and how their business is managing or embracing it.

The study showed that some 4 in 10 marketers (39 per cent) believe that “spending on TV will decrease over the next two years,” reinforcing the current trend in growth of digital forms of marketing and the shift away from mass marketing to more targeted marketing approaches. Currently, the digital component accounts for only 8 per cent of total marketing spend, yet two thirds (65 per cent) of the marketers surveyed strongly agree that their “senior management is very interested in digital marketing”. This appears to follow market trends and the overall consumer appetite for accessing media through new technology.

The survey results reveal that while marketers are broadening their priorities from traditional mass vehicles such as television to include more targeted Internet and digital marketing tactics, there exist both hurdles and opportunities for the marketing industry as a whole.

Media consumption is changing. New technologies such as personal video recorders, video games, the Internet, and others, are allowing people to consume media in different ways. All of this means that media consumption has become a much more active and less passive pursuit than in the past. Consumers spend almost as much on devices and applications designed to help them avoid advertising as advertisers spend on advertising itself. For the marketer, this means that an integrated approach is necessary.
Familiarity Builds Comfort

In terms of familiarity and usage, some forms of digital marketing appear to have matured and, in some respects, become part of the traditional marketing mix. This includes e-mail marketing, online advertising, search engine marketing (paid), search engine optimization, and interactive consumer websites. Others continue to be considered emerging opportunities in that they still generate only low levels of usage within the marketing community. These emerging approaches include e-CRM, social network marketing, viral marketing, blogging/podcasting, in-store digital media, online video marketing, and mobile marketing.

With both familiarity and usage on the increase, why aren’t marketers allocating more of their budget to digital? Despite positive trends, there is still a distinct lack of knowledge (31 per cent) with marketers either indicating that they are just starting to explore or consider the digital realm (12 per cent) or that they are unsure of its effectiveness (12 per cent). Sentiments such as concerns over video sharing sites and the effectiveness of online viral marketing continue to reflect a neutral wait-and-see approach.

In most areas of the digital landscape, the study reveals that it remains the case that advertising and marketing agencies are more familiar with and express stronger usage of digital than their counterparts on the client side of the equation. While the agencies are taking the lead to a certain degree, it is perhaps not enough. The question remains…are agencies doing enough to educate their clients? And if not, this could be an opportunity area for some organizations to step into?
Best Practices for Digital Marketing

Best practices in digital marketing as noted in the study mirror some of the best practices in traditional marketing. However, there are a few additions to the list. Of note is the need to get permission (7 per cent) and the requirement to be customized and relevant (12 per cent). All of the best practices mentioned by Canadian marketers fall under the mantra of knowing who to target, knowing what to say, establishing metrics to measure success, and executing in an ethical fashion.

Digital marketing presents an increasingly complex arena and the perceptions of digital marketing are diverse. While Canadian marketers appear cautious on the outset, they are eager to learn and explore the opportunities presented in this new digital world. What they require is a confident and competent guide to help show them the way.