Sorrel talks up new media

WARC report that WPP head Martin Sorrell, who is usually cautious in his predictions for the future has been talking up the prospects of online advertising, particularly compared with the future for TV advertising.

Given the scale of WPP’s recent additions to its online stable through the purchase of digital media specialist 24/7 Real Media for US$649 and increased investment in WPP’s media arm GroupM, it is not, perhaps, surprising that Sorrell should be so bullish.

Key amongst Sorrell’s predictions are that there will be a substantial switch of spend away from TV to online (but TV will remain larger than online), that this switch will create fundamental revenue issues for TV companies/channels, and that the distinction between the media will continue to blur.

The IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) seems very sure of itself, predicting that online ad revenues will overtake TV revenues by 2010, and also claiming that online is the most accountable medium ever invented. As WARC point out, the direct marketing practitioners would certainly query the point about accountability. The IAB seem to be continuing to miss the point about advertising; some advertising is designed to drive immediate actions, and that can be readily counted, but most advertising has a slower, longer term impact, and that is getting harder, not easier to measure.