Corporate adspend on Internet spurts 75%

Online advertising is up and more advertisers want a presence on the Internet than ever before, heads of Internet and Internet-based companies told Business Standard at the India Online Association conference here on Friday.

Corporate India spent Rs 100 crore this year, up 75 per cent from last year's Rs 40 crore, on online advertising, said Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Rediff.com.

"This is, however, a mere one per cent of the total Rs 10,000 crore spent on advertising in India," he added.

Internet advertising is also projected to grow to Rs 280 crore by 2007.

Neville Taraporewala, country head, Yahoo India, said: "There is a slow but steady recognition of the Net as an advertising medium and a reasoning in terms of response vis-a-vis audience and reach."

Independent research on Internet usage has shown that 50 per cent of Net users fall in the 20-29 age group and that they are the decision makers for buying products like television sets, personal computers and DVD players.

Andre Nair, CEO, south Asia, Group M, the media buying agency, said: "In 2001 we had half a client who was willing to look at advertising online. Today we have 18 for whom we have created Internet ads."

V Ramani, CEO, Mindturf, one of the largest Internet space selling firms, said, "One of the fastest growing electronics companies is already aware that 25 million Indians surf the Net on a daily basis and the company's product portfolio is ready for this group."

According to Balakrishnan, among the first to recognise that the Internet was an important medium was the financial services industry.

Several financial institutions have used the Net for services such as trading, buying securities, offering loans and cards. He said car makers, promoters of jobs and matrimony sites and sites that offer mobile downloads and contests are looking at Internet advertising seriously.

Balakrishnan said: "The fast moving consumer goods sector must increase its online ad spending, which now is a meagre Rs 2-3 crore, whereas it spends Rs 500-600 crore on other mediums of advertising. The same goes for telecom operators, too, like Reliance and Bharti."

Ramani believes that companies and agencies should dedicate a special cell to online advertising.