Selling stuff on the internet

Selling Stuff On The Internet


Digital Advertising and how it’s bigger than Jesus


The average UK adult spends thirteen hours a week online. The average UK teenager spends thirty-one.

Adverts have long been a source of joy, boredom-spawned channel-flicking, controversy, conversation and catchphrases for the entire world. As a medium, advertising is one of the most universal modes of mass communication on the planet, close to impossible to escape. Whilst you are probably well aware of this, you may not be aware that advertising on the internet is fast becoming brands’ most valued way of interacting with consumers.

The average UK adult spends thirteen hours a week online, the UK teenager spends thirty one. I have definitely not done the research on this but I am quite sure that the average thirteen hours spent online is a lot more than the average time spent reading the Bible. In saying this I am not trying to denounce Christ our lord saviour, what I mean to do is draw light to the fact that the communication landscape has changed greatly. The way we interact with the world has changed considerably and business is adapting to capitalise to the fullest on this: last year alone gross online advertising spend grew 4.6% whilst TV spend shrank 16% simultaneously. Digital is now encroaching on print and television advertising just as how the ‘trendy’ compact disc began to challenge vinyl in the nineties.

The rise of digital has been helped along a great deal by the recession; with a lot of companies cutting back on marketing spends, they turned to more cost-effective ways to mass market. As television and print can often be very expensive at the most effective times and locations, online seems like a cost-effective way to maintain brand presence whilst not spending more challenging higher amounts. This has had the effect of raising digital’s already growing market share, and validity as an art form in advertising.

Digital offers brands another chance to try and sell you something; the NHS another way to engage teens with anti-binge drinking messages; ITV another source of revenue through advertising before online shows. Digital however is not just banners or pop-up messages telling you to blow torch fat off your body in two weeks. It is everything from becoming a fan of Converse on Facebook , to viral advertising on YouTube, to films and bands having Myspace pages. Applying the concept ‘time is money’, if we are spending a seventh of our waking life online, that might explain why Facebook is valued at 15 billion dollars. The transference of value to digital marketing is a natural step, just one that is easy to overlook because it happened so quickly. Many still hold the view advertising is just what happens in commercials and on posters. A recent study claimed that one in every five pounds will be spent online by 2020 - it’s things like this that really underline that digital is the new rock and roll.

The internet is largely about the transference of information. It’s opened up a wealth of potential and sharing that wasn’t half as accessible five years ago. A prediction I make in advertising over the next five years is that we will see adverts online become more and more targeted, perhaps even scarily so. Platforms like Googlemail and Facebook enable marketers to map out who they are targeting: they have the capacity of knowing your sex, age, hobbies, frequently used words, and advertise products and services that might appeal to you accordingly. Imagine logging in to Facebook and watching an advert that said ‘good afternoon’, your name out loud, told you to drink Coca Cola and a shop nearby where you could buy it. This is no longer advertising science fiction - it’s a real possibility. How quickly and to what extent this does happen I cannot tell you but it is very possible to map an internet user’s interests, social habits, likes and dislikes from observing what they do or don’t do online. If you were Richard Branson and you could use that information to sell more flights, wouldn’t you?