Study Finds Social Nets 'Realistically' Near Top Of 2010 Media Buying Plans

"Social networks may still seem like an emerging medium, if an ad medium at all, on some parts of Madison Avenue, but a new report on the media buying plans of advertisers and agencies indicates that having a "presence on social networks" is one of the top priorities of their media plans for next year. The report, the 2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study, which is being released today by the Center for Media Research in conjunction with InsightExpress, found that 57.7% of respondents "ideally" plan, and 56.3% "realistically" plan to include social media in their media plans next year.

That finding is significant, because it shows the rapid speed with which social media, including social networks like Facebook, micro-blogging services such as Twitter, and other new and emerging formats connecting people to each other online have taken a precedent with both consumers and marketing and advertising industry professionals. It also comes only a few months after Madison Avenue's de facto bean counter, Interpublic forecaster Brian Wieser, conducted a lengthy research and soul-searching process concluding that social media is not a form of advertising, consequently leading him to omit it from Interpublic's official ad spending forecasts.

Email marketing was the No. 1 medium, cited by 56.8% of respondents as being a realistic part of their 2010 media plans, followed by social networks (56.3%), keyword search (49.7%), radio (42.2%), magazines (42.1%), online display (40.5%), event sponsorship (36.9%), rich media display (35.5%), direct mail (34.7%), regional TV (32.8%), regional newspapers (31.7%), out-of-home (31.2%), email sponsorship (29.5%), online video (26.7%), mobile SMS text (26.1%), and others. Interestingly, national TV (18.2%) and national newspapers (14.8%), ranked near the bottom of these respondents' realistic 2010 media buying plans. "

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Excerpts from "Online Media Daily" of MediaPost Publications