Internet Advertising World Sees Major Change

By: Amy Johnson

Not long ago, when one thought of advertising for a company, the first thing that would come to mind are television commercials or ads in the margins of a newspaper. Now that the Internet has taken over, even that is seeing changes. According to a new report, one out of five ads shown on the Internet is viewed on a social networking site – a site such as MySpace and Facebook. Those sites symbolize 21 percent of the ads on the Internet in the United States, MySpace and Facebook being more than 80 percent of ads. Before this, major sites such as Yahoo or AOL were the big market advertisers.

Why such a change? First, it is quite useful for more companies to advertise on something as fast and expanding as the Internet. Millions of people all over the world use the Internet more than once a day. It is cost efficient. Companies get their name and product out to a bigger, more broad group of people for much less than advertising through television and/or big city newspapers.

Also, it makes sense that more brand name companies are expanding their advertising to social networking sites. Facebook and MySpace are used daily by millions of people, especially the younger generation who are more apt to look closer at the ads and buy the items being advertised. It is also much cheaper to advertise on a social networking site than on one such as Yahoo or AOL (according to analyst Jeff Lindsay). Why not start putting advertisements on sites where more people visit daily if it is going to cost the company less money? For brand-name mega-companies, it fits.

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE5805QX20090901