As internet usage figures continue to rise, the internet is becoming increasingly important as a marketing channel. eMarketer, a market research firm that monitors digital media and internet marketing data, announced that digital ad revenues exceeded $102 billion in 2012 with this number expected to increase in 2013 and beyond. 

Digital marketing budgets in 2013

Following impressive performance in 2012, many businesses are preparing to increase their online marketing budgets in 2013. 

Market research firm ‘C.I. Marketing’ recently released a report stating that 35.7% of marketing managers at a number of large and medium sized businesses are planning to increase their online marketing budgets in 2013 compared to 10.8% in 2012. 

Naom Raz, C.I. Marketing’s owner, also stated that marketing budget allocations are being moved from traditional forms of advertising to direct advertising on social networks and other online advertising channels.

Social media

2012 was the year that social networks made their mark as effective marketing channels. Youtube, Facebook and other social networking sites experienced unprecedented success with many businesses eschewing traditional advertising in favour of advertisements on these social networking sites.

In their report, C.I. Marketing stated that social network spends increased from 28% to 38% between 2010 and 2012, a trend that is unlikely to reverse any time soon. The report also stated that, of the 42 managers surveyed for the report, 28.6% will be increasing their social network budget for 2013.

Pay Per Click

Another key marketing channel in 2012 was pay per click advertising, or ‘PPC’ for short. According to C.I Marketing’s report, PPC advertising accounted for 32% of online advertising budgets in 2012 compared to 21% in 2010. It’s likely that PPC advertising will account for even higher percentages of online advertising budgets in 2013.

Rising digital ad budgets

Less than 20 years ago, digital ad media budgets were non-existent. Today, online advertising accounts for one fifth of all marketing dollars. 

eMarketer expects this meteoric growth to continue unabated with double digital percentage increases in digital ad spends until 2015, at least. By 2016, eMarketer believes that online advertising spends will account for one quarter of all marketing dollars.

Unsurprisingly, eMarketer believes that most online advertising will focus on North America and Western Europe. These two areas already command the lions share of online marketing dollars with $168 being spent to market to each North American internet user in 2012 and $112 being spent to market to each Western European internet user in 2012.

eMarketer expects digital marketing to surge in Asia and Latin America in the future, too, with Indonesia, Mexico and India, in particular, experiencing a great deal of growth.

2012 was the biggest year for online advertising yet. As internet usage figures continue to grow, this figure will, without a doubt, continue to rise as increasing numbers of businesses make use of the new opportunities afforded to them through online advertising on social network sites and PPC networks. 

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