The UK’s Massive Online Ad Spending, Google Changes Local Mobile Search, And More

UK Online Ad Spending Exceeds TV

The UK has recently become the first major world economy to report that Internet ad spending has surpassed that of TV.  About 24% of all advertising money is now spent on the Internet, while 22% is spent on TV ads.  TV marketers blame this on the fact that online marketing is much more diverse than the option that TV presents.  Online marketers use many mediums, including email, classified ads, display ads (including online TV advertising) and, overwhelmingly, search marketing.  This could also be seen as the problem with TV: it is not diverse enough to accommodate the needs of modern advertisers the way that the internet can.

Google Changes Local Search for Mobile

Google has announced an improved interface for their Local Search site for mobile phones. It should reduce the time spent typing out search queries and create a much more easy-to-use mobile experience (and possibly safer roads by lessening the time spent looking at your phone while driving!).  The first change integrates local search with Google Maps, as starred items from Maps now show up as a category in Local Search.  You can also now browse through different categories such as restaurants instead of typing it out.

Google Adds Forum Posts To Search Results

Google introduced a new feature to search that will incorporate forum posts or discussions related to what you’re searching for.  This feature will apply to sites that tend to have a larger amount of posts on a specific topic.  When several different discussions on a site are relevant to your search, Google indents them under the main result and includes the date of each post.  This feature is meant to give users a deeper view into the relevant content available on sites throughout the web.

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Sources:

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/09/uk-internet-ad-spend-tops-tv-for-the-first-time.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/surfacing-forum-posts-in-search-results.html
http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2009/09/30/30venturebeat-google-local-search-for-mobile–now-with-les-26893.html