Online advertising and sponsorship spend increased by 17% during the third quarter of 2003, to a total of over R20 million for the quarter, says the South African Online Publishers` Association (OPA).
In its first release of cash advertising spend numbers related to what was spent on Internet publications, it says the quarter-on-quarter growth seen in the third three months of this year contributes to a total online ad spend of R70 million per annum for OPA members.
The numbers are collated by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, and represents invoiced rand sales as submitted by OPA member sites, rather than the more commonly reported grossed-up sales figures at rate card values.
"These results vindicate our view that online publishing is a viable and efficient medium for marketers to reach a key niche of South African decision-makers," says OPA chairman Russel Yeo.
He says the numbers suggest advertising spend on Internet publications is a lot larger than initially thought and is now larger than that spent on advertising at cinemas.
"We see many professional marketers devoting significant funds to the online industry. The growth in the last quarter is proof of the professionalism and hard work put in by our members," he says.
Russell Hanly, OPA Monitoring and Auditing Committee head, says the third quarter was the second consecutive period with strong growth. "It indicates that those advertisers who have adopted the medium have sustained their investment because of solid and efficient returns.
"Without doubt the measurability and accountability of the online medium is attractive to advertisers, especially those with a direct marketing approach who have the systems in place to accurately assess the efficiency of their spend on a day-to-day basis," Hanly says.
According to the audited spend figures of OPA members, the categories dominating online spend fall into the following broad groups: business-to-business, travel, transport and leisure, and banking.
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