Online companies more than doubled their spending in traditional media during the first nine months of the year, shelling out US$1.4 billion in the quest to draw people to their Internet sites, according to a report issued Monday.
Competitive Media Reporting, which tracks advertisers' spending on ad time or space for television, newspapers, magazines, radio and outdoor displays, said the nine-month total topped the $649 million spent in all of 1998.
"This is surely one of the fastest-growing industries, if not the fastest, we have ever seen," said Jerry Arbittier, senior vice president for corporate research and analysis at New York-based CMR.
Online broker E+Trade Group Inc. was the top spender, paying $89 million in the nine-month period, up 424.5 percent from $17 million in the 1998 period, CMR said. Discount retailer Value America Inc. ranked second at $46.5 million, followed by broker Charles Schwab Corp.up 9,142.7 percent at $40.8 million.
Metwork television claimed the most advertising dollars in the period, with a total of $278.3 million, up 362.4 percent from a year ago. Magazines were the next favorite vehicle, up 190 percent at $265.1 million, and cable television was third at $202.6 million, up 366.1 percent.
"The holiday season has created a tremendous pressure for companies to draw people to their sites," Arbittier added. "We do not make predictions, but anyone who is watching TV, reading newspapers or magazines knows that fourth-quarter spending is going to be tremendous."
In fourth place among individual advertisers was Internet portal Snap.com -- part of NBCi, or NBC Internet Inc. (NBCI.O) -- with spending rising 1,096.8 percent to $38 million, followed by Ameritrade Holding Corp. at $36.4 million. The online broker spent nothing on advertising in 1998, CMR said.
