The local online advertising industry had a different performance than most players had expected six months ago. Some of them speak about bloodshed in first quarter. However, things started to warm up to the idea that the market may have found a bottom. Nevertheless, all players say Romanian advertising industry suffered a sharp decline over the past six months of the year.
Online advertising market: chaotic and below 2008
On a media market 35-45% below prior-year period, online advertising slumped by “merely” 20-25% - which is translated into the fact that a higher portion of advertisers’ marketing spending was steered into the online environment, said Mihai Seceleanu (photo), managing director of InternetCorp.
“The negotiation of media spending on TV advertising was completed much later this year, holding back the negotiation of expenditures for other mediums. Clients are now more selective in choosing the websites to go with, preferring to allocate their budgets to top-rated sites that could deliver audience and the expected results. Furthermore, 2009 is the first year of decline in net costs in Romanian digital advertising, as a response to dumping offers from TV, print media and outdoor”, said Mihai Seceleanu (seceleanu.ro).
Orlando Nicoara (orlando.ro), managing director of MediaPro Interactiv said the online ad market had a weak performance, which returned very weak results, with few campaigns and few active clients. According to his estimates, the online advertising industry had a 10-15% decline year-on-year.
Magdalena Zander (maddy.ro), executive director of INTACT Interactive’s sales operations, shares the same opinion. The market suffered a staggering 40% decline year-on–year, as she commented.
“For the first quarter, there are players reporting 65% decline. In the second quarter however, the market started to warm up, b
