Analyst: Google Threat To Big Ad Agencies ‘Unwarranted’

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is a massive player in the digital advertising world, but given that this remains only a part of the overall ad market, the Internet giant will not soon pose a real threat to big ad agencies of the world like WPP, Interpublic and Omnicom, according to a report out today from Pivotal Research Group.

The reason for this, they write, is that digital media companies will want to retain their margins, which are “signficantly higher” than those that big agencies get for their services. Pivotal’s analysts also emphasize that agencies still continue to offer a greater degree of independence to brands when advising on how and where to spend ad dollars online.

Google, it seems is just a big fish in a still-small pond: according to ZenithOptimedia, in 2011 digital advertising made up just under 16 percent of total ad spend worldwide, or $73.8 billion. Google last week reported that it made $36.53 billion in advertising revenues, just under half of ZenithOptimedia’s estimated total.

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Mobile Usage Soars For Internet, Ad Forecast To Hit $2.6B

Tablets have become the consumer's fourth screen, especially among those with smartphones. Techies with smartphones continue to use tablets at a higher rate. Those in the United States -- at 17% -- are among the highest, followed by Japan at 11%, and the United Kingdom at 10%, according to Google. The data appears to fall into line with AdWords tools allowing marketers to add WiFi ad targeting. Germany had the biggest increase in smartphone owners using their device for daily Internet access, jumping from 39% to 49%. Japan had the highest percentage accessing the Internet daily on their smartphone, at 88%. A little more than two-thirds of smartphone users in the U.S. -- and more than half of smartphone users in the UK -- access the mobile Internet daily. Read more here

Print, Radio Revs Braced For 2012 Declines

2012 doesn’t hold much hope for some of the main traditional media categories, including newspapers, magazines and radio, judging by the latest advertising forecast from MagnaGlobal, which sees revenue losses for all three media. The declines come amid growing competition from online advertising, as well as continuing economic uncertainty. Total U.S. radio advertising revenues will decrease 0.8% in 2012, according to MagnaGlobal, which also predicts declines of 5.2% for magazines and 6% for newspapers. MagnaGlobal sees Internet media jumping 10.9%, due mostly to continued increases in paid search, online video, and burgeoning mobile advertising. Broadcast TV will grow 8.5% in 2012, largely on the strength of the Olympics and political ads. Outdoor media will experience more modest but sustained growth, with a 4% increase in 2012. Read more here

Why newspapers are closing the shutters on staff photographers

Newspaper photographers are in retreat. Staff jobs are vanishing as publishers look for new ways to cut costs. National papers have gradually been reducing numbers in recent years. Many titles have only a handful. In truth, what's happening to photographers is a precursor to what will happen on the writing side too - and that's way before we cease to publish on newsprint. Most view it as the onward march of the citizen journalist and, by implication, contend that that is A Bad Thing. Read more here

HD Radio Awareness Declines

HD radio is making plenty of progress -- in the wrong direction. That’s according to a new study from research outfit Mark Kassof & Co., which surveyed 670 radio listeners ages 18-64 by phone to determine their state of knowledge about this variety of digital radio. A medium once (and occasionally still) hailed as the future of terrestrial broadcast radio. According to Kassof, awareness of HD radio actually declined over the last few years. 67% of those surveyed said they had “heard of” HD radio in 2008, the proportion has declined to 54% today. Read more here

YouTube Users Watch 4 Billion Videos a Day, But Don’t Stick Around Long

YouTube streams 4 billion online videos each day, more than one for every other person on Earth and a 25% jump over eight months ago. The number of uploads on the platform is also staggering: about 60 hours of video is now added to the site every minute, compared to 48 hours a minute in May. As outlined in a New Yorker article last week, despite impressive stats such as the 4 billion figure, the average YouTuber spends 15 minutes each day viewing videos on the site, but the average American spends four or five hours watching TV every day. “If YouTube could get people to stay on the site longer, it could sell more advertising, and raise the rates it charges advertisers for each thousand views,” the article states, adding that U.S. advertisers still spend about $60 billion a year on TV commercials compared to only $3 billion for online video. Read more here

Tablet, E-Reader Owners Double Over Holidays

The share of U.S. adults who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% during the holiday season, fueled in part by the launch of less expensive devices like the Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet, according to a new study. “In the time we have been doing surveys about the adoption and use of digital technology, we have never seen growth quite like this,” noted Lee Rainie, director of Pew’s Internet & American Life Project. “These findings have major implications for every media company -- especially book publishers, everyone in a knowledge business, and key community institutions like libraries. They show how radically the tectonic plates of information creation and dissemination are shifting under our feet.” When it came to e-readers, women continue to be more avid buyers than men. Wealthier and better-educated people also are more like to have e-readers, but the gap between them and others isn’t as dramatic as with tablets. Read more here