Most media buyers will tell you that online video is the advertising medium to watch this year.
eMarketer expects web video advertising spending will increase 45 percent to $850 million in 2009, a year when other media are expected to decrease in value.
How many are really watching? According to Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM Interaction Worldwide, “The big issues are who’s watching video online, and who’s making it.”
He goes on to say: “And who’s making the best sense of it from the seller’s side and the people who are owning the inventory and the advertising side. Online video has become a significant distribution for the consumption of regular TV programming, but it’s not yet been replaced by an effective advertising model.”
Big media changes are coming. Sites like Hulu that carry full-length T.V. shows and movies are growing more popular in revenue and viewership. But Hulu is only a small portion of the total online video viewing. YouTube still carries around 40 percent of videos viewed on the web.
“The upcoming upfront will be a witching hour and no one knows yet what the real impact of corporate behavior is going to be,” added Norman.