While this should not be a surprise to anyone who knows anythign about advertising, MediaPost has reported that online ad spending continues to grow.

• Online ad spending is up 23.6% in the first half of 2007 compared to 2006
• Overall ad spending was down 0.5%

Real Economy is Down, But Cyber Economy is Up

Overall ad spending being down 0.5% reflects overall economic conditions but online ad spending is running counter to that trend. It would be nice if online advertising was recession-averse, but I don’t think that’s quite the case. It might be up even more if it weren’t for the slumping economy and decreased ad spend.

There have been people who speculated that once the economy faces a downturn, online advertising will be similarly affected. The good news is that it’s not - at least not yet.

What Does That Mean for You, the Advertiser?

It means that online advertising is still very much an untapped market. Ad spending would only increase such significant amounts if there were a lot of profit to be made.

It also means that during downturns in the economy, you can move a lot of your advertising online, where you’ll see a positive return. Just like the hot IPO that soars even when the market is slumping, online advertising still has a lot of room to grow.

But this will not be an open window forever. More and more people are discovering the profits in online advertising. That’s why the continual increase in online ad spending. If you’re not moving in this market now, your competitors will be. And they will be growing their online presence while you try to play catch up.

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