Ad Spend Forecast

According to new eMarketer reports, US spending on major media will continue its slow recovery from the recession. Total ad spending won’t come back to 2007 levels in the next few years, but TV ad spending is making a better-than-average comeback and will surpass 2007 spending levels by 2012. TV still retains the greatest share of US major media ad spending, at 39% and is expected to keep that hold through 2015. This means the increases in online ad spending—set to grow from 15% to 26% of the total by 2015—will come at the expense of print.

Online already represents the second-biggest advertising medium after television, after surpassing print newspaper ad spending in 2010. By 2013, online ad spending will be greater than print spending on both magazines and newspapers combined.

Even though online advertising is projected to increase its share of US major media ad spend, overall spending on digital, including internet and mobile, still hasn't risen to match consumption patterns. The internet took up 25% of adults’ daily media time in 2010, but received just 19% of US ad spend. Mobile is also behind. It claims 8% of media time, but most of that is devoted to communications activities marketers are not looking to interrupt.

SMBs Double Use of Twitter

eMarketer reports that small and medium-sized businesses doubled their Twitter usage from 2009 to 2010. According the the “Local Commerce Monitor-Wave 14” study from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat, last year 1 in 5 SMBs used Twitter for local marketing.  SMBs' overall use of social media is growing. "Twitter was still behind many other social media tactics, with nearly half (48%) of respondents using Facebook for marketing and a quarter using some other social network."  35% of the SMBs surveyed had increased their use of links and ads on social media sites over the past year, and "46% planned further increases in the next 12 months." 25% of SMBs increased their use of customer ratings and reviews in 2010 and 39% expected to increase usage of reviews before the end of 2011. Not surprisingly, younger businesses (those under 7 years) were more likely to use social media for marketing.

For more on corporate uses of social media, stay tuned to bizologie. Later this week Laura will cover The Global Social Media Check-up 2011 report from Burson-Marsteller.

Our Mobile Payment Future

eMarketer reports that the world wide transaction value of mobile payments will be close to $1 trillion in 2014. That's 6x the current value of $162 billion. This forecast from Yankee Group includes transactions from mobile banking, international and domestic remittances, contactless cards, mobile coupons, and near field communications (swiping your smartphone near a payment terminal). IT World reports that IE Market Research predicts the value will be even higher at $1.1 trillion and they believe that 1/3 of that forecasted value will be made up of the NFC transactions. The GSM Association has over 750 carriers around the world and they are working on standardized mobile payment systems to make these forecasts a reality.

The idea of mobile payments hasn't caught on in the US just yet. Less than 10% of the those of us in the US have paid with our phones and only 29% of US and European respondents "welcome the day" when they can make payments using their phones, but IE Market Research shows that mobile payments are common in many other countries. For example, in Taiwan 32 % of users have made purchases via their phones. With Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all hoping to roll out NFC services next year, mobile payments could become the norm in the US shortly.