Murdoch online: Online advertising still trails far behind sectors like television, radio, press and outdoor in most western markets, but it is managing to convert some powerful media players.
The most powerful of these, Rupert Murdoch, recently summoned 50 of his most senior executives to New York for a brainstorming session aimed at developing new strategies for capturing revenues from the world's internet users.
The meeting, shrouded in secrecy, was called so that Murdoch and his management team could start addressing three issues: free online content cannibalising print editions of newspapers, the rise in online advertising, and the growth of broadband.
According to British media reports, the last time such meetings were held by News Corporation executives was in the late 1990s, when the new media boom was in full swing.
The wilder claims of this era have now been discredited, but online advertising and web-based media businesses are back on the agenda among the larger media players.
Murdoch is reported to be particularly concerned about the rise in broadband connections and the increasing popularity of video games as an alternative to television.
He is said to be open to the idea of News Corp getting into the video games industry.
More importantly, the company is seeking to capture a greater share of the online advertising market. This has meant investing heavily in the newspaper's various websites.
The Sun's website, for instance, is now one of the top three newspaper sites, alongside the Guardian and the Telegraph, bringing in more than five million unique users in January alone.
Murdoch has hired management consultants McKinsey to help come up with a new global internet strategy for News Corp. McKinsey's tasks include suggesting ways to address the threat of free website content eating into print circulation figures.
The online advertising market, while growing strongly, has a long way to go to catch up with other sectors.
It currently accounts for only 2 per cent of marketing spend across Europe.
But strong growth may be on the way. This week, a report suggested that Europe's online advertising market could more than treble within four years.
The figures came from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), the pan-European trade organisation for sellers of electronic media.
It said expansion would come from the rapid growth in broadband connections and consumers' increasing confidence in and enthusiasm for online shopping.
According to Dublin agency AFA O'Meara, the internet advertising market in the Republic is reckoned to be worth around €13 million per annum. But it added: "It is near impossible to establish its true value due to the lack of a structured approach in gathering expenditure data and to the speed of growth in the market."
Until that changes, online the online sector will probably remain in fifth place behind television, press, radio and outdoor.
Rugger individuals
If it turns out to be Grand Slam year for Ireland, RTÉ sports executives are likely to be rubbing their hands with glee.
They are already sitting pretty after snapping up the rights to Irish football internationals, the GAA Hurling and Football All-Ireland Championships and the rugby Six Nations. The latest ratings for last Sunday's crunch game against England will please them even more.
RTÉ2 broadcast the game live from Lansdowne Road. At its peak, the broadcast managed to pull in 774,000 viewers.
Among men aged 15 and over, the game managed to pull in an average audience of 269,000, peaking at 379,000.
Dublin agency AFA O'Meara said: "The performance was even stronger among the allegedly more affluent ABC1 male market."
The overall performance was well ahead of the highest Six Nations match rating last year for the Triple Crown match against Scotland.
Interestingly, the ratings for the England game were higher than the audience for the Champions League match last week between Manchester United and AC Milan.
RTÉ will no doubt hope that a Grand Slam decider against Wales will eclipse the Grand Slam decider against England in 2003, which achieved a peak of 801,000.
Business image
Publisher Kevin Kelly will target young businesswomen with a supplement accompanying his Image magazine, Saor Communications reports this week.
Advertising agencies have been told that from May, a 96-page glossy entitled Image Business will be included with the magazine.
Details are sketchy at this stage and advertisers have simply been told the magazine will be aimed at "women in the workforce".
Currently Image magazine sells more than 26,000 copies every month, with colour advertising pages costing up to €3,000.
