Previously, advertisements were communicated mainly through various traditional media like print media, radio and television. However, the advertisers have realized that the traditional media involved very huge expenses, consumed a lot of time to reach the target group and could only reach a small audience base. These disadvantages of traditional media are the success factors for the growth of advertising in new media. New media advertising is any form of advertising that is made through online media, digital media, mobile media or any other new media. Companies are exploring the new media for communicating their advertising messages because of its several attractive features and advantages.
Interactivity is the first eye (I) of new media advertising. The advertisers can reach the masses around the world, give them the information and at the same time, communicate their response through the new media. These media support online trading, wherein the users can make a transaction by just clicking the mouse. The advertisers can also quickly and promptly receive the replies from their clients. One more advantage with this media is that, it is cheaper than the other advertising techniques. Thus, the new media advertising gives maximum revenue with minimal expenditure.
Innovation is another eye (I) of new media advertising. Advertisers are using innovative software tools to convey the message more clearly and effectively. Graphics, pop-ups, animated pictures, colors and user interface are some of the commonly used tools on the Internet to make the advertisements more attractive and comprehensible for the users.
Thus, interactivity and innovation are regarded as the two eyes (I's) of the new media advertising. These features have made the new media advertising unique and distinguishable over other forms of advertising.
It is one of the important types of new media advertising which basically uses the World Wide Web as one of the important media for communicating the advertising messages. The Web is the biggest possible medium and has the quickest and the deepest reach throughout the globe. Online advertising involves several interactive and innovative tools such as banner advertisements, pop-up advertisements, pop-under advertisements, interactive blogs, microsites, online advertisement-based concept games, advertisement-based quizzes, webisodes, RSS, web video productions, pod casts, viral advertising, word of mouse advertising, search engine advertising and digital advertising. The online advertising market stood at Rs. 2.7 bn in the year 2007, and has grown by 69%. It is estimated to reach Rs. 4.8 bn by the end of 2008 and Rs. 11 bn by the end of 2012 (Refer Exhibit 1 for details). Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is one of the evolving new media for advertisers which is giving huge profits to companies like Google, MSN, Yahoo, Rediff, etc. SEM has overtaken all the other advertising media and it continued to grow at the rate of 35% on a yearly basis. A research on SEM in India shows that majority of users on any search word usually click on the sponsored links instead of the search results, which enhanced the advertising revenues for the search engine companies and search engine advertisers. |
