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June 20, 2006
Ad spending on word of mouth "infinitesimally small" and that's BIG!
BtoB Mag's June 12 issue led off with an article on word-of-mouth in which PQ Media says ad spending on blogs, podcasts and and RSS will reach $49.8 million in 2006. eMarketer pipes in, saying that's "an infinitesimally small number compared to online marketing."
Isn't that the point? Aside from the rather lost-looking ads that now grace some blogs, WOM or CGM is not an ad buy. Sure, strategy and creative may come from ad agencies, but we all know that's a tiny part of an ad budget, compared to the media buy. What these guys may be saying is "Holy (rate) sheet, where's the space?"
Not that PR folks should feel too smug, as we try to figure out how to pitch a story to a blogger.
Yes, traditional marketers aren't spending much on the word-of-mouth . . . yet. But tracking it as a portion of the "total advertising spending" is like measuring hybrid cars based on their contribution to the oil industry.
Posted by Bob Brin at June 20, 2006 4:59 PM
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