European Online Ad Spend to Grow 70 Percent in 2001

[London, ENGLAND] It may have fallen slightly in December 2000,
but, according to research company Forrester, the total online
advertising spend in Europe will leap by 70 percent this year.

However, before anyone gets too excited, Forrester warns that
the first half of 2001 will be “relatively quiet,” with spending
expected to accelerate only in the later months.

By the end of 2001, the advertising spend will have increased
from its current EUR 690 million (US $650 million) to
reach EUR 1.2 billion (US $1.13 billion).

Forrester’s European AdWatch Manager Marc Cohen explained
the increase by saying that traditional advertisers will step
further into the market, even though dot-coms are tightening
their belts.

“In general there is this virtuous circle going on. More people
are going online, more people are getting comfortable with
spending money online and more companies are getting money via
online channels, so they can spend more on online marketing,”
said Cohen.

Industry observers have been saying for some time that the
collapse of the dot-com bubble was the result of over-eager
investment rather than any underlying problem with the
Internet phenomenon itself. Even after several years of the
Web, developers and marketers alike are still learning the
business — and those companies that remain in the game will
reap the rewards.

Online ad spending dipped in both the U.K. and Germany
at the end of last year. It fell in the U.K. to EUR 17.3
million (US $16.3 million), from EUR 17.7 million
(US $16.5 million) in November, while in Germany it also fell
to EUR 12.6 million (US $11.86 million) from EUR 12.8 million
(US $12.06 million) the previous month.

France bucked the trend, with spending on Internet advertising
going up to EUR 8.6 million (US $8.1 million), from
EUR 8.3 million (US $7.89 million) in November. Forrester
notes that France is a less mature Internet market than
the other two countries where spending fell.

Forrester’s Internet AdWatch tracks the online activities
of more than 15,000 advertisers across 650 sites in France,
Germany, and the U.K. Its figures give a unique insight into
the buoyancy of the industry, analysed by category.

The top spending category was consumer goods, making up
25 percent of the total spend in the U.K. and 24 percent
in Germany.

Top spenders were online gift shop TooJoo in Germany,
spending EUR 0.38 million (US $0.36 million) and Virgin Group
in the U.K., spending EUR 0.49 million (US $0.46 million).

Internet AdWatch sends its customers weekly e-mail Campaign
Alerts with hotlinks to their placements. The archive now
contains 6 million observations of online advertising.

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