Arbitron Study Breaks Down Webcasting Ad Revenue

Arbitron (www.arbitron.com) released a study on Tuesday that indicates that webcasters are still actively promoting the sale of advertising during their shows, and may be meeting with statistically improved sales results.

Arbitron's survey, Webcasters Speak Out, revealed that nearly two-thirds of webcasters have been called by agencies to place webcast ads. In addition, 85 percent of webcasters report having sold at least one webcast advertising buy in the past year. Of course, one buy doesn't exactly equal profitability, and it'd be rather interesting to know if the other 15 percent are trying.

"In a study we conducted last year, nearly half of the agencies said they had never been approached by webcasters trying to sell advertising," said Bill Rose, general manager and vice president, Arbitron Webcast Services. "Our latest study shows how much has changed in the last 12 months. The overwhelming majority of webcasters are actively selling advertising today. Webcasters agreed that the medium's greatest strength is its ability to deliver a targeted message."

Arbitron indicated that of those webcasters selling ads, 45 percent sell a combination of webcast ads, sponsorships, in-stream ads and gateway ads. The study also indicated that a majority have sold in-stream ads.

Arbitron also indicated that 42 percent of webcast ad dollars come from direct advertisers, while one-third hails from interactive ad agencies and the remainder from traditional agencies. Two-thirds of webcast advertising is sold to "brick and mortar" companies and slightly more than one-third (34 percent) to "dot-com" companies. Automotive companies are the number one target for webcast advertising sales, followed by entertainment (24 percent), music (20 percent), "dot-com" companies (15 percent) and alcoholic beverage companies (13 percent).

"Like any new advertising medium we still have some work to do," said Rose. "Webcasters say that the biggest obstacles to growth are the need for credible third-party metrics and the need to continually educate advertisers and agencies about the value of webcast advertising."

The findings reported in the study are based on a February-April survey. The survey, by Arbitron Webcast Services, consisted of 62 interviews with senior executives at Internet-only webcasters, representative firms, content delivery networks, technology companies and broadcasters.