Indicators that times are tough shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, and a new report from eMarketer suggests that some advertisers will respond by making cutbacks. The research and analysis company took a close look at a few social networks, though, and believes advertisers in the UK won’t turn their backs on them too much.
Here’s all of the good news in one sunny lump. eMarketer expects that UK social network ad spending will reach around 140 ($258 million) in 2009, and this represents “a healthy increase over the 115 million ($212 million) total estimated for 2008.”
Also, “social network ads in the UK will represent about 4.4% of total online ad spending in 2009. That spending recognizes the growing percentage of the online population that uses social networks. More than one-third of UK Internet users ages 18 to 55 had visited such sites in the past month as of December 2008, according to TNS, and more than one-half of teens have a social networking profile.”
The less positive side of this involves the admission that eMarketer once forecast some bigger financial numbers for 2009. MySpace and Bebo seem to be losing market share in terms of users, too.
Your view of this may vary depending on whether you’re in a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty mood, then, but we’re at least a long ways from having a shattered cup on the floor.
