April 20, 2006
As we've talking about off and on on thealphamarketer.com, the local online advertising market is really starting to take off. I hope you understand that it means it is no longer hidden away from the general business community like it used to be.
In 2005 it increased to $4.8 billion dollars, up from 2004's $2.7 billion. It is estimated to skyrocket to $5.8 billion this year, an upward surge of 21%. Borrell Associates, MediaPost has reported this in their "What Local Web Sites Earn: 2006 Survey."
They add that "Last year's growth spurt was reminiscent of that seen at the height of the dot-com frenzy in 1999-2000." When you think of it, that's saying a lot. For such a huge tumble, it's pretty encouraging to see this type of confidence and growth in local online advertising.
Newspaper website produced an estimated $2 billion in 2005 of online revenue from ads, which is up from the 2004 total of $1.19 billion. The largest areas of advertising were in real estate, help wanted and car ads, which amounted to 75% of the total online totals.
Television online sites added another $283 million to the mix, which is an increase of $119 million in 2004. Borrell adds that this should take off exponentially as online video launces forward.
Like we've talked about for a while, it is time to enter into local online advertising before your competitors do. It is only a matter of time before most savvy business owners realize that it will be a real plus to their businesses.
