Pew: 35 Percent of Web Users Generate Online Content

Source: http://www.marketingvox.com

There is a significant statistical association between creating online content and having a broadband connection at home, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's "Home Broadband Adoption 2006" report, according to ClickZ. Some 48 million American adults - 35 percent of U.S. internet users - have posted some sort of user-generated content online. Some 73 percent of them, or 31 million, have a broadband connection at home.

John Horrigan, associate director of research at Pew Internet & American Life Project, is quoted as saying the study "shows that people are pretty interested in using the technology to put something of themselves on the internet, not just pull down information from the internet."

"Online content comes more often from younger people, but we do find that older people are sharing photos and videos," said Horrigan. "It's disseminated fairly evenly throughout the broadband population at this point."

According to the report: "Today, with 42 percent of Americans with having home high-speed, user-generated content is much less the realm of only a certain class of home broadband users. Online men are still more likely to post content online than women - by a 37 percent to 32 percent margin for all internet users and a narrower 43 percent to 39 percent gap for broadband users. When focusing on sharing a personal creation online (e.g., artwork, photos, stories, or videos), 34 percent of men have done this versus 29 percent of women."

Survey: Online Marketers Not Yet into Emerging Media

From: www.marketingvox.com

Although some marketers have expressed interest in new web channels such as social networks and videogames, most don't plan to use them in the next year, according to a Forrester Research survey of 253 interactive marketers, reports AdWeek (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Marketers are apparently reluctant to shift from more familiar online channels such as search and email.

Some 72 percent of marketers said they don't have plans to advertise in videogames in the next year, and 57 percent said they wouldn't use mobile advertising in the next year. Only 13 percent reported using blogs or social networks in their marketing efforts, and 49 percent said they don't plan to do so during the next year.

"There's curiosity but not a lot of activity," said Shar VanBoskirk, a Forrester analyst. For the moment, marketers are "not ready or don't have the resources or haven't thought through how it works for their business," she said.

Nearly three of four marketers said they either use or plan to try behavioral targeting in the next year, and 69 percent said the same for contextual targeting.

Mobile Search Is Moving On Up

Find it on your phone...

Everyone knows how search advertising is driving the growth of online advertising. Now mobile search may be positioned to do the same for wireless ad revenues.

According to new figures from JumpTap, a provider of mobile search technology, mobile carriers saw revenue increases of 8% last month on mobile search. Click-through rates on mobile searches of 36% and a 4% increase in unique users are fueling revenue growth, with the average revenue per search increasing to $2.73.

Tracking the recent trends in mobile search metrics, following searches for individual music artists, with searches for Eminen leading the list, JumpTap found that the most queries were concentrated in the ringtone and adult content categories.

Top 100 Mobile Search Terms in the U.S. (April 2006)

58% Artists

12% Adult

8% Games

5% Sports

5% Television

7% Misc.

The query categories that showed the fastest growth were TV programs, theme songs, weather and temperature and sports.

Source: eMarketer.com

Executives Not Quite Hot to Blog

From eMarketer.com

MAY 23, 2006Blogosphere, smogosphere.

A recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive, and sponsored by Makovsky + Company, the "2006 State of Corporate Blogging" survey, found that Fortune 1000 business executives are reacting slowly to the idea of corporate blogs as a communications medium.

The study found that only a small minority of top executives are convinced that corporate blogging is growing in credibility either as a communications medium, brand-building technique or a sales or lead generation tool.

"Executives at top companies are slow to come to grips with recognizing [blogs'] importance in building a dialogue with customers and other stakeholders — including critics," said Robbin Goodman of Makovsky + Company.

Blogs have a long way to go before becoming widely accepted corporate marketing tools. According to the survey even though 12% of senior executives say their companies have taken legal or other action in response to a blog, only 20% report having a formal process in place for monitoring blogs written about their own company.

In fact, only 30% of senior executives report that they have a thorough understanding of the term "Internet blog."

Ms. Goodman believes this lag in corporate attitudes toward blogs should be addressed.

"Whether they are used to demonstrate expertise, share knowledge, improve customer satisfaction levels, support a product brand or burnish a company's reputation, blogs should be an essential element of every corporation's communications strategy," she said.

Hot Off The Press...eMarketer Podcast!

Tired of reading your eMarketer Daily email? Well now you don't have to you.

The new podcast, launched today, features Mary Ellen O'Brian who reads you the daily update. She has a nice voice and the production quality is solid.

However, I could do without the commercials and it would be nice if the podcast gave this listeners MORE information than just reading the eMarketer Daily articles. In that regard the podcast is lacking some punch, but I bet it will evolve to do just that in the coming segments. KUDOS for eMarketer for “just doing it!”

Copy the following link to the podcast section of your podcatcher to subscribe: http://www.emarketer.com/podcast/emarketerdaily.xml?aff=podcast&WT.mc_n=podcast&WT.mc_t=feed&WT.mc_r=365

Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

On a related note we at Arketi Group are proud to say our podcast, Arketi B2B Marketing Minute, is current ranked Number 1 on iTunes, in terms of both popularity and relevance, among the B2B Marketing podcasts. You can learn more about the B2B Marketing Minute at www.arketi.com/minute and can subscribe to the podcast by pasting the following link in your podcatcher: http://www.arketi.com/b2bminute.rss

Doctors, Dentists and Nurses Most Trusted Professionals to Give Advice

Doctors, Dentists and Nurses Most Trusted Professionals to Give Advice, According to Harris Poll of U.S. Adults

Different professions vary greatly in how much they are trusted to give their clients or patients good advice. According to a recent Harris Poll measuring U.S. adults' trust in 11 different professions to give advice that is best for them, the professionals trusted completely by the greatest number of adults are doctors (50%), dentists (47%), and nurses (46%). At the other end of the list, those with the fewest adults saying they trust them completely are stockbrokers (6%), real estate agents (7%) and insurance agents (9%). Read the entire poll results.

Media or Government, Who Do You Trust?

For some RICH and DEEP data click on the GlobeScan release to see the full findings...

Source: emarketer.com

TV and online news tell it like it is.

A new poll of over 10,000 people by GlobeScan, designed to determine how much, or how little, people trust the media, was conducted in ten nations: Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, the UK and the US.

Sponsored by the BBC, the Media Center and Reuters (and therefore unlikely to cast the media in a bad light), the poll found that 82% of the respondents felt national television was their most trusted news source.

Overall, though there were differences country to country, TV was the most trusted news source, followed by national/regional newspapers at a 75% trust level, local newspapers at 69%, public radio at 67% and international satellite TV at 56%. Internet blogs were the least trusted source at only 25%.

No matter what the source, in general two out of three people (65%) believe that the news is reported accurately, but 57% believe governments interfere too much with the media and only 42% think journalists can report freely.

Nigerians believed most strongly that government interferes too much in the media (75%) followed by South Korea (71%), Brazil (64%), Indonesia (59%), Britain (58%) and India (56%). Sadly, in the US, where "freedom of the press" has long been a long-held tenet, 52% of the respondents now say the government interferes too much in the news.

More people trust the media than their governments. Media is trusted by an average of 61% compared to 52% for governments across the countries polled. But the US bucked the trend — with government ahead of media on trust (67% vs 59%) along with the UK (51% vs 47%).

Overall, trust in the media varies across the 10 countries, with the greatest trust expressed in developing countries — where trust in national governments tends to be low — such as Nigeria (88% have a lot or some trust), Indonesia, India, and Egypt.

Interestingly, American, at 59%, and Russians, at 58%, express nearly equal levels of trust in their media "to operate in the best interests of society."

Over three out of four respondents (77%) prefer to check several news sources instead of relying on just one, and that was especially true for Internet users.

The poll found that more younger people use online sources, as it was rated the first choice among 19% of people ages 18-24 compared to just 3% in the 55-64 age range. But overall 56% valued the opportunity to obtain news online, with South Koreans being the most enthusiastic at 85%. Britain was at 57% and the US at 60%.

Gender, Generation and Jobs Influence WOM Marketing Strategies

A new study by Lucid Marketing marketing, titled, "U.S. Adults: Word of Mouth Communications," found that women were more likely than men to share a positive experience with a business (91% to 83%) or recommend an enjoyable product (95% to 89%). And, full time employees made substantially more daily contacts than those not in the workforce, while those with household earnings of more than $100,000 were more likely to make recommendations than those earning less. The study showed that women tend to prefer verbal communications to other forms of contact, whereas men tend to prefer email.

Kevin Burke, President of Lucid Marketing, said "The study supported many of our notions about reaching consumers through WOM and surprised us in others." He added that there are a number of interrelated consumer trends that are fueling the growth of WOM as a marketing tool. The Internet empowers consumers and accelerates the flow of information and communications like never before. Other factors include the diminishing effectiveness of mass marketing, rising consumer distrust of advertising, and greater emphasis by marketers in targeting their best customers.

The report contained highlights, conclusions and marketing recommendations:

• Full time employees make as many daily contacts as part time employees and stay-at-homers combined.
• Stay-at-homers tend to make more daily visits to chat rooms and message boards
• There seems to be no apparent increase in WOM activity for people with incomes from $75,000 to $90,000. The results showed an acceleration in WOM likelihood for households earning $100,000 and above
• 49% of Gen Y have built a website and one quarter have their own blog
• Gen X and Boomers tend to use email more often and are more likely to spread positive WOM
• SilverBirds have more activity in message boards and chat rooms than Boomers and nearly equal activity to Gen X. This is likely due to their desire to reconnect with family and friends, and to discuss health, medical and other issues of aging with peers and professionals

The study may be accessed for free here.

Source: Center for Media Research

Majority of U.S. Adults Say Wall Street Benefits the Country

Almost three-quarters (73%) of U.S. adults say that Wall Street and what it does benefits the country (22 percent say it benefits the country "a lot", half (51%) say "somewhat"). This compares to less than one-quarter (23%) who say it harms the country (17% say "somewhat", 6% say "a lot").

This overall perception of Wall Street is slightly better than it was three years ago, when 68 percent said it benefited the country and only 16 percent said Wall Street harmed the country.

Yet, it is still down from the all-time high in 1997 when 80 percent of adults said Wall Street benefited the country.

Source: Harris Poll Weekly

Americans Look into the Crystal Ball: What is Likely to Happen in the Next 10 Years?

May 9, 2006:
A new Harris Poll finds that about half of all U.S. adults think it is likely or very likely that there will be a major new war involving many American soldiers (52%) or a major terrorist attack like 9/11 in the United States (49%) in the next 10 years.

Slightly fewer adults (45%) think that it is likely or very likely that Social Security benefits will be eliminated or sharply reduced, while slightly more than one-third (35%) think it likely or very likely that we will see a woman become president.

Approximately one in six (16%) thinks it is likely or very likely that there will be a stock market crash like the one that happened in 1929.

Source: Harris Poll Weekly

Trust catching up with media technology: poll

Wed May 3, 2006 5:08 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - National television is the most trusted news source, ahead of newspapers and public radio, but the Internet is gaining ground, especially among the young, according to a major worldwide survey of trust in the media.

The poll, conducted in 10 countries by GlobeScan on behalf of Reuters, the BBC and the Media Center, found that 82 percent of 10,230 adults questioned rated national television as their most trusted news source overall.

That compared with 75 percent who trusted national or regional newspapers, 67 percent who said they trusted public radio and 56 percent who opted for international satellite television.
Despite the popularity of the Internet in more developed countries and the emergence of "web-logging" or blogging, neither fared well in the survey, according to Globescan President Doug Miller.

"The Internet is gaining ground among the young," he said. "The jury is still out on 'blogs' -- just as many people distrust them as trust them," he told Reuters.

The research found that just 25 percent of respondents said they trusted blogs, while 23 percent said they did not trust them.

Dean Wright, Managing Editor of consumer media at Reuters, said he believed blogs would eventually come of age, as newspapers themselves once did.

Wright added: "It's a relatively recent phenomenon that people believe what's written in a newspaper. One hundred years ago, newspapers were incredibly partisan: they were the blogosphere of their day.

"There are already blogs that people trust and quality will win out once people realize which ones they can trust."

MARCH OF DEMOGRAPHICS
According to the research, television is still seen as the most "important" news source (56 percent), followed by newspapers (21 percent), Internet (9 percent) and radio (9 percent).
Miller said that although the Internet attracted a lesser score than television or newspapers, it was possible to see a clear change afoot in public attitudes.

He added: "The poll clearly shows that the march of demographics will occur vis-à-vis online sources of news."

Online sources were, for example, the first choice among 19 percent aged between 18 and 24, compared to just 3 percent in the 55-64 age range.

"But although it is changing, our research perhaps suggests that this change in Internet usage may not be as fast as some who have been investing in it believe," Miller said.

Rolling news television stations have also come of age, he believes.

Americans who were asked to name their most trusted specific news sources plumped for Fox News (mentioned by 11 percent) and CNN (also 11 percent), with others some way behind. ABC, for example, was chosen by 4 percent, as was NBC.

Miller said the brands chosen did not simply reflect trust.

"Trust has a number of elements," he added. "It is not just about objectivity but about a sense of what people most use, what they like.

"Clearly there is a loyal audience for Fox and CNN but the figures themselves are modest."

New US Business Elite Survey Shows Senior Business Executives Responsible For Over $1 Trillion Annual Expenditure

Style Conscious Businessmen With Passion For The High-Tech Possessions Also Give Work-Life Balance Top Priority

USBRS 2006, Ipsos Media’s new survey looking at the media consumption and buying power of key decision-makers at the highest end of the business spectrum in the US, estimates senior business executives are involved in decision making worth over $1.2 trillion dollars a year. Key areas of responsibility measured amongst this select group of individuals includes; IT, telecommunications, office and industrial equipment, financial and insurance services, automobiles and business services.

In addition USBRS 2006 also demonstrates that US Senior Business Executives thirst for knowledge can only be satisfied when using all of the available media providers. Senior Executives turn to network TV for entertainment; cable TV first for breaking news and sport; believe national newspapers have the best journalists and reliable reporting; and turn to business magazines first for business news.

Internet use is still growing. Not only do one fifth of these top business executives use the internet as their first port of call for business news; it is also the most popular first step to gleaning financial news, used by 24 per cent of this group, information on financial markets, 26 per cent, personal finance, 30 per cent, and technology, 23 per cent.

However, while nearly two thirds, 65 per cent, of the mostly C-level audience questioned, spend more time reading business information online than in the past, this doesn’t seem to be having a negative impact on print readership, with over two thirds, 68 per cent, believing the internet is an important part of a business publication’s overall offering. While using a publication’s website is yet to become part of the daily routine of two thirds of this audience, clearly there is a real opportunity for publishing houses to build on this consumption.

Surveying the media habits of the US’s most influential decision-makers across TV, print and websites, the survey paints a picture of news hungry, internet-savvy executives - 92 per cent like to keep up with the latest news - for whom a real cross section of media has a role to play.
Network TV is the most popular source for US and political news; cable TV is sought after for foreign / international and entertainment news; the local paper is the best source for sports; and business magazines provide the most management / career development information.

Simon Staplehurst, associate director at Ipsos MORI Media, commented:
“With top business executives hungry for information to fuel their business lives and personal desire to stay ‘on the pulse’, there’s room out there for a whole range of media channels. The challenge for publishers and broadcasters is to recognize the individual role each medium plays and tailor the news and information offered accordingly to ensure it adds value and is compelling, be it on an instant by instant, day by day, weekly or monthly basis”.

Local papers hold sway in US
The survey also highlights the importance of local newspapers to the businessman’s media mix. Nearly a fifth, 19 per cent, cited this channel as having the most actionable and the most credible advertising, (compared to the internet at just three per cent), and the most informative advertising, 16 per cent.

The Wall Street Journal rules the roost amongst national dailies – read by over two fifths, 46 per cent, of the audience; followed by USA Today, thirty per cent, and the New York Times, 14 per cent. Businessweek and Newsweek are jointly most popular weeklies, both read by one fifth of the group.

On the internet, CNN is the most popular website at 11 per cent, followed by MSNBC, eight per cent.

The power of advertising
With sizeable incomes and lists of possessions that read like an upmarket shopping catalogue this audience is an obvious target for advertisers. Possessions range from the high tech, with 57 per cent of businessmen owning portable laptops or notebook computers, 37 per cent hand held or palm top computers, 35 per cent plasma screen or LCD TVs, 29 per cent a blackberry, and 32 per cent an iPod or MP3 player; to the luxury, with 31 per cent owning fine wine or champagne and 23 per cent premium liquor.

The good news, according to the survey, is that this group is open to advertising aimed at them in both their business and their social capacities. Nearly three quarters, 74 per cent, openly admit to being influenced by advertising in their personal lives, while 68 per cent claim the same in regards to their professional purchasing. 72 per cent also admit to getting ideas of what to buy from newspapers, magazines and TV and over half, 51 per cent, of this group claim to have purchased a product after seeing it advertised on the internet.

With over half the audience describing themselves as style conscious, an affinity with well-known brands is perhaps not unexpected. When asked about lifestyle purchases, 92 per cent say they are prepared to pay more for quality, 75 per cent prefer to buy well-known brands, and 80 per cent prefer to use well established products.

Attitudes differ slightly when it comes to this audience’s working life however: 44 per cent are not concerned whether major suppliers are well known names or brands, and just over half, 51 per cent, don’t need their CEO to have heard of the supplier.

Work isn’t everything
Despite painting a picture of hardworking business enthusiasts – 83 per cent are not afraid of taking business risks - work-life balance is also a priority for these executives, with the majority, 74 per cent, making sure work doesn’t stop them spending time with their friends and family; and over half, 56 per cent, claiming their career is not their top priority.

This penchant for enjoying their leisure time is also evidenced in the way American business leaders spend their money. Over a quarter, 29 per cent, enjoy sports club memberships and a similar number, 26 per cent, are members of a golf club. A fifth own their own vacation home; 14 per cent their own yacht or boat; and 19 per cent have taken a holiday in the last 12 months costing $3,000 or more per person.

Simon Staplehurst, associate director at Ipsos MORI Media, commented:
“This is the first time a survey has taken such a comprehensive snapshot of the business elite in the US. The survey helps to highlight subtle nuances between businessmen in the US and elsewhere in the world and promises to be an invaluable tool to advertisers, planners and buyers and to the publishers and broadcasters themselves as they steer content over the months ahead.”

The PC To Be Challenged By Competing Digital Platforms For Supremacy In Tomorrow’s “Digital Den”

As More Americans Experiment With Digital Media, Television Peripherals Such As The Digital Video Recorder And Dedicated Game Console Are Emerging As Legitimate Competitors To The PC As The Preferred Digital Entertainment Platform In The Home

New York, NY – Today, the personal computer remains the dominant hardware platform consumers rely on to access the Internet in the U.S., and has been instrumental in launching the age of digital media into mainstream America. However, as the entertainment industry prepares for the growing interest in digital video and gaming services to complement digital music, recent research conducted by Ipsos Insight shows that some more avid media consumers prefer other hardware platforms to explore this next stage of the digital entertainment evolution. In related research, the company also found that Americans don’t have a huge appetite for replacing old entertainment options with new ones. Watching movies and TV content on the PC or portable devices is not exciting to mainstream America yet.

As part of a wider survey of online U.S. adults about digital entertainment, most Americans today (88%) use some form of device that can display and/or deliver digital entertainment content (i.e., beyond basics such as a TV, or dial-up Internet connection from home). Among this majority of ‘digital platform’ users, three in five (61%) prefer their broadband-equipped PC for digital entertainment purposes, dominating user preference for other devices such as cell phones (13%), video game consoles (10%), and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) like TiVo (8%).

However, among those who regularly use a DVR, preference for the DVR (37%) is on par with the broadband-enabled PC (39%). Console gamers also reported some degree of preference for their gaming consoles (31%) for personal entertainment usage in comparison to the PC (43%).
PC vs. DVR vs. Game Console: Which will win the home?

All of this seems to suggest that as digital video and gaming content enter more American living rooms, the PC may not be the silver bullet to drive trial and adoption of these emerging digital forms, particularly among early adopters. Todd Board, Senior Vice President of the Ipsos Insight Technology & Communications practice, says that device and content players need to carefully evaluate how they approach going to market with emerging digital content plays. “While music lovers have adopted the PC as a primary device to tap into the digital medium, to assume the PC will play a similar role for avid fans of video and games may be premature, or at least simplistic. Those who have already adopted the DVR and game console clearly have forged a strong bond with these devices, and have ‘marked’ themselves as avid consumers of higher-engagement multimedia experiences.”

One potential scenario is that the markets for both games and video could eventually become segmented based upon the preferred method of consumption, with many consumers tapping into different modes for different content experiences. For example, content that is most preferably consumed in the living room – referred to as the ’10-foot’ experience – may be driven more by the set-top box, DVR or game console given their current legacy with consumers. An example of this type of richer, more immersive content would be full-featured games, full-length motion pictures, or sporting events. Conversely, topical content with a short shelf-life, or a less immersive nature, such as digital video clips and podcasts (already dominant in today’s video offerings online via sites like YouTube and Grouper) could continue to prosper along a more PC-centric stream. Today, the market for digital video is best positioned to deliver this ‘2-foot’ experience, as users can view this content on their PC or a portable media device. Says Board, “Based on our data, consumers who today prefer their gaming console or DVR over the PC are basically telegraphing something about their preferred digital content experiences. As yet more options emerge – think of cable provider DVRs, Google Video, or the Yahoo Go TV now in beta – it will remain important to think in terms of consumer preferences for different digital content experiences, in understanding their apparent preferences for different digital platforms. Likewise, we also need to distinguish between the preferred modes of access, consumption, and storage of digital content, in understanding the evolution of this broader space.”

Traditional Video Consumption Modes Will Remain (For Now)
In addition to probing consumers on their device preferences, the recent Ipsos study also asked Americans whether they anticipate a year from now spending more, less or about the same amount of time conducting a number of different entertainment activities. Surprisingly, despite the rapid growth in awareness of and interest in the digital medium, most consumers believe they will spend even more time a year from now using established channels to consume music, movies, television and games. For example, roughly one in four adults today (24%) anticipates spending more time a year from now then they do today watching movies on DVD they own, while just 6-7% of Americans feel they will increase the amount to time they spend watching movies on the Internet, or on portable devices, a year from now. So while traditional methods may be appear to be losing their luster to the buzz around newer digital distribution methods, many Americans still love watching live TV programming, going out to the movie theater and playing video games from the rental store.

Board concludes, “The data reflect the reality that most consumers don’t have some huge appetite for replacing old entertainment options with new ones – rather, at this point a minority of consumers are intrigued by additional options. Watching movies and TV on the PC or portable devices is not exciting to mainstream America yet, as most consumers overwhelmingly prefer the ’10-foot’ experience for video content. The key to driving the digital medium into the living room hinges on simplicity, and enabling this 10-foot experience for enjoying web-driven video content. To some extent this hinges on greater consumer awareness and comfort with the full power of the extendable media center PC, the Xbox 360, and set-top and web-driven DVR plays. A huge question, though, is how many consumers are willing to bother modifying their desktop PC space to make that more conducive to the 10-foot experience – or to bother configuring device connections to pipe digital content to their TV. And as more American households adopt powerful notebooks and WiFi for traditionally PC-centric activity, this will remain a fluid question.”

Methodology
This study was conducted with a representative sample of 1,063 online adults from the entire U.S. online adult population (18+). This yields results which are accurate to within +/-3.01% at the 95% confidence level. Data were gathered using the Ipsos U.S. Online Express from April 6-10, 2006.

To learn more about U.S. Online Express, please visit: http://www.ipsos-pa.com/pa/us/usexpress-online.cfm

Blog, Podcast and RSS Advertising Surge AheadAPRIL

Not long ago online advertising was the "alternative" choice but now there are alternatives to it.

According to the "Blog, Podcast and RSS Advertising Outlook," from PQ Media, combined spending on the three new advertising channels rose by 198% in 2005 to a total of $20.4 million. Spending is expected to grow by another 145% in 2006 to reach nearly $50 million.

"Blog, podcast and RSS advertising are being driven by some of the same factors boosting the growth of the overall alternative media sector: continued audience fragmentation, the perceived ineffectiveness of traditional advertising, and the elusive but coveted 18-to-34-year-old demographic," said Patrick Quinn, president of PQ Media. "[They] have demonstrated an ability to reach younger demographics as well as influentials."

Looking at the component parts, PQ Media reports that blog advertising totaled $16.6 million in 2005, 81% of the total spent on the three alternatives. Podcast advertising reached a total of $3.1 million in 2005, according to the report, with RSS advertising, non-existent until mid-2005, generating $650,000 during the year.

Looking ahead, PQ Media estimates that podcast advertising will be a larger market than blog advertising by 2010, when the blog segment will comprise only 39.7%, or $300.4 million, of overall expenditures. Podcasting, projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 154.4%, is predicted to reach a total of $327.0 million in 2010. These numbers are closely in line with eMarketer's own projections, which recently put total spending on podcast advertising at a total of $300 million by 2010.

The pro-podcast viewpoint is backed up by an American Association of Advertising Agency poll conducted late last year that found that marketing executives anticipate spending more on podcast than blog advertising in the future.

PQ Media expects total spending on blog, podcast and RSS advertising to grow at a compound annual rate of 106.1% from 2005 to 2010, reaching $757.0 million in 2010. By comparison, the firm projects that other overall alternative media, including branded entertainment, digital out-of-home advertising, mobile marketing and video-on-demand marketing, will grow at a compound annual rate of 14.8% and reach $253.7 billion in 2010.

If they are right, many advertisers will be taking alternative routes to reach their customers in the next five years.

For more on the future of podcasting, read the just-published eMarketer report, Podcasting: Who's Tuning In?