Can SEM keep eating other media budgets?
Spending on search marketing rises as it pulls money away from other ad initiatives, raising the question of how long SEM will be able to keep growing when considering that dependency.
Plenty of SEM spending comes from businesses that aren’t shifting money from newspapers or TV. Conditions could be brewing up a storm that would rain on the SEM parade. eMarketer noted a few trends courtesy of a SEMPO survey that may indicate a slower, or even flattening, growth rate in search marketing:
Search engine advertisers and agencies surveyed for the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)-sponsored “2007 State of the Market” survey listed multiple reasons for the SEM spending growth, including advertiser demand, rising keyword and pay-per-click campaign costs, small-to-midsized business SEM use and increased behavioral and demographic targeting.
The study was conducted by Radar Research online using an IntelliSurvey panel.
SEMPO now projects that North American search engine marketing (SEM) spending will grow to $25.2 billion in 2011 from $$12.2 billion in 2007.
The unmentioned idea suggest rising SEM costs could prompt advertisers into looking at other venues again. Search engines are the only ones profiting from rising keyword bids. However, with so much attention being diverted from TV and newspapers to the Internet, the old media ad budget buffet should see its steam tables topped up regularly with new cash.
No comments yet.