They let me rant in the IAB Newsletter this month …

The Australian IAB/PwC Online Ad Expenditure report for the quarter ending March ‘08 was released last week.  It shows growth in Search and Classified from the fourth quarter of 2007 but a decline in Display advertising of 9.6%.  Anecdotal feedback suggests we should expect to see a parallel result when our domestic figures are released later this month.

If the New Zealand market holds up in similar fashion, the industry should be quietly pleased with the shallow drop of the summer break and the strength of the post-January bounce back.  However we should not neglect to delve further into the display decline.

It would be easy to just put this revenue dive down to January summer holidays but this hides an issue that has held back the industry and our share of total adspend over this period.  Simply put, we have failed to convince advertisers that people still surf over summer (and not just at the beach).

The lift in Classified advertising indicates listings growth for properties, jobs, cars and dates over this period – perhaps due to the increased personal ‘on-internet’ time available to consumers or their increased buying activity during the summer months.

The Search bods know this, which is why they increased their adspend to reach these people while they’re in the mood for investigating online purchases, reviewing brands and making buying decisions.

Continuing the education theme of last month’s newsletter, I believe that the Display advertising folks can do more to prepare for the ‘09 summer season.  We need to publish traffic results to educate edgy advertisers that consumers really do continue to use the ‘net over the holidays and hold advertising rates to demonstrate our belief in this.

Research into buyer behaviour over this period will throw up online transactional behaviour that favours advertisers in seasonal categories such as travel, clothing, fast food, for instance.  We should take advantage of this before Q4 bookings start getting planned.

Now, to be clear, a decline in display advertising expenditure during this quarter should absolutely be expected, regardless of the volume of annual growth.  But we shouldn’t just wring our hands & wind back our January forecasts.

Just as advertising in a recession logically favours measurement-obsessed online media, so should advertising in times of lighter media consumption. The Search and Classified segments know this. It’s time for the Display advertising publishers to make a case and collectively pitch it.