If you think you’re lately being lured to faraway destinations by banner
ads for a wide variety of travel companies, you’re not imagining things;
more and more such firms are turned to the Web to acquire customers in the
first quarter, according to a report issued Thursday by AdRelevance, a division of MediaMetrix (MMXI).
Total advertising impressions for travel companies lagged behind overall
growth in the first quarter — increasing only three percent over
fourth-quarter numbers, while the industry average was four percent.
At the same time, the number of companies grew dramatically. Forty-five
percent more companies advertised in the first quarter than did in the
fourth — an increase that AdRelevance attributes to advertising by resorts
and tour companies.
“Although travel company advertising isn’t dominating the Web, the latest
AdRelevance data suggests that online advertising for the industry is
growing at a healthy rate,” said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of
media research for the AdRelevance division of Media Metrix.
“The fact that so many new travel companies have started to advertise
online gives us reason to believe that the industry’s Internet advertising
activity will pick up even more in the upcoming quarters.”
Still, travel agent firms — like Travelscape.com, Expedia, Lowestfare.com, TRIP.com, and Preview Travel — accounted for
most of the advertising impressions in the category, 80 percent. Airlines
came in next, with 41 percent.
According to AdRelevance estimates, travel companies are spending a larger
percentage of their ad budgets online. The company says four-and-a-half
percent of their total ad budget were dedicated to online advertising,
which was twice the percentage projected by the Internet Advertising Bureau.
Another interesting finding concerned consumer behavior — when people go
to travel sites on the Web, they’re most likely to be shopping. Sites where
folks can buy tickets outpaced travel content sites. Four out of the five
top travel sites were shopping sites.
| Top 10 Travel Advertisers Online by Impressions Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Travel Company | Ad Impressions | Share of Voice |
| 1 | Lowestfare.com | 690,000,000 | 37 percent |
| 2 | Travelscape.com | 240,000,000 | 14 percent |
| 3 | Hotel Reservation Network | 180,000,000 | 10 percent |
| 4 | TRIP.com | 110,000,000 | 6 percent |
| 5 | Preview Travel | 91,000,000 | 5 percent |
| 6 | Yahoo! | 62,000,000 | 3 percent |
| 7 | Delta Airlines | 52,000,000 | 3 perc ent |
| 8 | Prestige Travel | 37,000,000 | 2 percent |
| 9 | Expedia | 32,000,000 | 2 percent |
| 10 | Hertz | 30,000,000 | 1 percent |
| Top 10 Travel Agent Advertisers Online by Impressions Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Travel Company | Ad Impressions | Share of Voice | |
| 1 | Lowestfare.com | 690,000,000 | 37 percent | |
| 2 | Travelscape.com | 240,000,000 | 14 percent | |
| 3 | Hotel Reservation Network | 180,000,000 | 10 percent | |
| 4 | TRIP.com | 110,000,000 | 6 percent | |
| 5 | Preview Travel | 91,000,000 | 5 percent | |
| 6 | Yahoo! | 62,000,000 | 3 percent | |
| 7 | Prestige Travel | 37,000,000 | 37,000,000 | 3 percent |
| 37,000,000 | ||||
| 8 | Expedia | 32,000,000 | 2 percent | |
| 9 | Cheap Tickets | 25,000,000 | 2 percent | |
| 10 | Resorts Exchange International | 22,000,000 | 1 percent |
| Top 10 Non-Travel Agent Advertisers Online by Impressions Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Travel Company | Ad Impressions | Share of Voice |
| 1 | Delta Airlines | 52,000,000 | 23 percent |
| 2 | Hertz | 30,000,000 | 8 percent |
| 3 | Southwest Airlines | 14,000,000 | 6 percent |
| 4 | American Airlines | 11,000,000 | 5 percent |
| 5 | Best Western International | 10,000,000 | 4 percent |
| 6 | United Airlines | 7,500,000 | 3 percent |
| 7 | Hyatt | 7,000,000 | 3 percent |
| 8 | Avis | 6,700,000 | 3 percent |
| 9 | Bid4Vacations | 6,400,000 | 3 percent |
| 10 | Marriot | 6,100,000 | 3 percent |
| Top 10 Travel Sites by Unique Visitors Source: Media Metrix, February 2000 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Travel Company | Unique Visitors Home (in thousands) | Unique Visitors Work (in thousands) |
| 1 | Expedia.com Travel | 3,358 | 2,477 |
| 2 | Travelocity.com | 3,007 | 2,582 |
| 3 | Mapquest.com | 2,973 | 2,106 |
| 4 | Preview Travel | 2,188 | 1,088 |
| 5 | Southwest.com | 1,117 | 906 |
| 6 | AA.com | 1,083 | 1,027 |
| 7 | ITN.net | 994 | 831 |
| 8 | Lowestfare.com | 924 | 682 |
| 9 | UAL.com | 879 | 776 |
| 10 | Delta-Air.com | 833 | 859 |