Bellwether: Online Gaining Biggest Marketing Hike, As Biz Confidence Dips

The internet is still proving the medium most likely to attract new marketing pounds, especially during austere times.

The balance of companies planning to hike online marketing spend in Q3 was +13.3 percent, the warmest reception of any medium, according to the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and BDO’s quarterly Bellwether survey…

That helped push up by 0.5 percent the balance of companies reporting higher marketing spend across media for the period.

But Bellwether is warning – while this increase is a welcome bounce-back from Q2’s 4.6 percent fall, it’s far slower than Q1’s rise.

And, though marketing executives are on a five-quarter streak of optimism about the industries in which their companies operate, their optimism is now at its lowest during that period.

Bellwether: “Q2 almost certainly represented a peak in the rate of economic growth … a slowdown is probably underway in the second half of the year.”

BDO media head Andy Viner: “Internet advertising continues to exhibit the fastest rate of growth, as firms recognise the importance of a greater on-line presence and look for increasing return on investment through technology-led marketing solutions.”