NewComm Collaborative

Some predictions for online advertising in the coming year from MediaSpan, Good Health Advertising, Jumpstart Automotive Media, Inc. and CheckM8:

From Mark S. Zagorski, Chief Marketing Officer, MediaSpan Group Inc.:

1. The consolidation trend in online advertising will continue, particularly in the vertical network segment where niche publishers will be snapped up by larger brands looking to strengthen their foothold and expand sell-able inventory. The 70/10 rule (70%+ of online dollars concentrated amongst the top 10 properties) will become the 80 / 8 rule.

2. A user generated news portal will launch and will become the most highly trafficked news website in the world. Google will purchase it and will finally do what they said they wanted no part of – become a content producer – but will do so without hiring a single writer.

The MediaSpan Network delivers national online advertising highly targeted across over 1,300 local radio, newspaper and television websites in 300 U.S. DMAs. MediaSpan Network Sales grew 282% during 2007.

From Robert Kadar, President, Good Health Advertising Inc.

1. Growth in online media spending will outpace that of any other measured media.
2. Pharma marketers will begin to develop best practices for participating in online social media.

New York-based Good Health Advertising provides advertisers and ad agency partners an efficient and realizable new way to reach the long-tail of online health consumers while also providing health information publishers with a dependable, high-quality revenue stream. Privately-held GHA represents more than 30 high-quality health, medical and healthy living Web sites, offering advertisers a monthly reach of over 8 million health information consumers.

From Mitch Lowe, Chief Executive Officer, Jumpstart Automotive Media:

1. 2008 will be the year that targeting by audience, rather than context, will become the norm.

2. The auto industry will spend at least 8% of its advertising budget, more than $3 billion in total, on digital advertising.

Jumpstart Automotive Media, Inc. partners with leading web publishers to create the Internet’s largest and highest quality community of car shoppers. Jumpstart’s targeted reach and innovative marketing programs help automotive manufacturers and dealers improve their advertising results and help web publishers achieve a maximum return on their audience. Jumpstart is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.

From Dana Ghavami, CEO, CheckM8 Inc.:

1) As 2007 was the year that validated the online medium as a crucial part of the advertising mix, 2008 will be a defining year of how online ad inventory will be brokered. The major media portals and networks will attempt to become clearinghouses of online advertising, while media sellers and buyers will be jiving with marketplace exchanges for direct ad placements. All in all, ad dollars will find the best ways of reaching content-specific sites rather than increased spending in broader strokes.

2) As 2007 was the year that blurred all the lines between media and technology companies with the acquisition of all major ad serving providers, the reshaped ad technology landscape will take a new form in 2008. The vacuum created by substantial conflicts of interest and sensitivity of data in ulterior interest-owned hands will give rise to new independent leaders to service the major media brands.

CheckM8 offers the online advertising industry the most advanced new approaches and cutting edge technologies for ad serving, inventory management, and rich media. CheckM8’s products increase efficiency and expand the growth of web publishers. CheckM8 technology is used by leading online publishers including Business Week, Nielsen, Orange, Terra Networks, Time Inc., Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, among many others. CheckM8 is based in NY, with offices in London, Madrid, Stockholm and R&D facilities in Israel.

What do you think? Do you agree with these predictions? Do you have some predictions of your own? We invite you to share them here!

Thanks to George Simpson for sharing these with us!