Stop the presses: online ad spending to exceed print this year

Written by Jeff Herschler

Friday, 20 April 2012 09:46

"U.S online advertising spending, which grew 23% to $32.03 billion in 2011, is expected to grow an additional 23.3% to $39.50 billion this year, pushing it ahead of total spending on print newspapers and magazines," according to the forecast by eMarketer. Tara Pihn, healthcare pundit and futurist says bluntly "Print is dead. The tablet is the game changer." eMarketer reported in December that US adults now spend more time on mobile devices each day than they do with print media. Rolando Valdes, a healthcare marketing professional, working in Dade and South Broward concurs, stating "I go into ten or twelve doctor's offices a day. The patients aren't reading the magazines; they are playing with their smart phones. Pretty soon they all will have tablets." Ms. Pihn sees the trend accelerating, "As tablets proliferate (see Gartner: Tablet Sales to Double This Year) and Wi-Fi becomes ubiquitous, the massive shift in the way we read, which began over a decade ago, will be consummated. This will happen much faster than most people think." See pie chart below which illustrates the transformation: Average Time per Day Spent with Media by US Adults Dec 2011 (minutes) Source: eMarketer via FHIpics TV & Video 274 Total Digital (Internet + Mobil) 232 Radio 94 Total Print (Newspapers + Magazines) 44 Total Digital (Internet + Mobile) dwarfs Total Print (Newspapers and Magazines). The typical American is spending over five times more time digesting digital content versus traditional print content (232 minutes per day vs. 44 minutes per day). Advertisers will continue to follow the audience. By 2016 eMarketer is predicting an online ad spend of almost double that of print ($62b vs. $32.3b). And educated professionals such as doctors and healthcare executives have been early adopters in the digital revolution. Remember it was the doctors who gobbled up the first smart phone (the Palm Pilot) back in the '90's. According to Health Practice Media, Physicians and Hospitals are Rapidly Moving to Digital Media. For example, in a recent SpinaBifidaInfo.com study 75% of physicians polled have purchased an Apple device such as an iPhone, iPad or iPod. Meanwhile that same study found 38% of physicians intend to buy an iPad this year. I had a chance to catch up with several leaders in Florida's healthcare community recently and asked them about their advertising budget allocations. According to Diane High, Director, Corporate Marketing and Broward Health Line, Broward Health, "We still allocate a big part of our budget to print and outdoor. That said, digital is our fastest growing category. It was close to zero just a few years ago and now is a significant part of our media mix." Steve Whalen, Marketing Director at Danna-Gracey, a decade old medical malpractice insurance agency in Delray Beach, had this to say ""We are in a digital age, and this is only the beginning. We have traded in a walk down the driveway to get the newspaper for smart phones and tablets for on-the-spot information. If you want to be seen, you can't afford to be yesterday's news." Meanwhile according to Michael Salzhauer, a Plastic Surgeon in Bay Harbor Islands, "I think pure print advertising is going the way of the dodo bird. I spend 95% of my marketing dollars on digital media. The only print I do is charity/non-profit related or else very specific community/demographic targeting via local newsletters and the like. You get a lot more bang for your buck online." Not surprisingly, IOS Health Solutions, a five year old firm providing web-based practice management and EHR solutions, has embraced digital media from the beginning. "Print is definitely not our priority today. Digital media is the most effective way to reach the masses and maintain the message current in a rapidly changing landscape. It allows you to track and measure results quicker and adjust fire if needed. Our client's have also embraced the digital world benefitting from the numerous efficiencies and cost savings our software provides their practices when transitioning to a paperless environment." stated Anthony Lopez, Marketing Director. The transformative effects of digital media present challenges as well as opportunities. According to Don Silver, Chief Operating Officer at Boardroom Communications, a PR firm in Broward, "The advertising and PR landscapes are certainly evolving...we are integrating a mix of traditional media relations and extending the messaging across social media, blogs, websites and the search engines." Says Pihn, "If you haven't done it yet, you need to reallocate marketing and advertising budgets in favor of digital ASAP."

Last Updated on Sunday, 20 May 2012 19:58