Radio Business Report/Television Business Report asked a group of industry association leaders to look into their crystal balls and tells us what 2010 has in store for the media business.
Randall Rothenberg of Interactive Advertising Bureau had this to say:
As you know, the IAB doesn’t issue projections. But what I can say is that our sector’s performance compares favorably with most other ad-supported media segments. Broadly, U.S. ad spend fell 14.3% in 2009 but interactive advertising revenues were only down 5.3 percent, indicating that a significant shift of advertising share from offline to online media is underway and we believe that this will continue to occur on a national level.
Local still appears under-represented in interactive – probably because local advertisers aren’t as familiar with the medium and its opportunities. But there’s an enormous amount of activity in that space, and we are seeing some fascinating business models emerge. There are interactive businesses that provide self-serve advertising solutions at a local and hyperlocal level; there are numerous companies combining mobility, social media, and localism; there are major newspaper and television companies introducing fascinating demographic and social products, and training their sales forces sell offline and online packages at the local level. For these and other reasons, we anticipate substantial local growth.
[UPDATE] I thought it might be helpful to name some of the companies doing the things Rothenberg is talking about above. For instance, Lost Remote points to Google’s new “near me now” mobile functionality.
Looking to the hyperlocal online ad game, there’s PaperG, founded by a group of Yale University students. Then there’s SyndiGoNetworks, a local ad network from CBS that lets bloggers place real-time widgets with the latest headlines and video from thier local CBS station. The ad network is available in 13 U.S. markets at this time.