NEW YORK: While pundits have rung the death knell for portals, the truth is they are very much alive — and thriving.
Traditional marketers tend to find safety in established, mass market brands. And since advertisers put only 6.6% of their ad budgets online in 2006, the need for established Internet brands will remain strong for several years. Google, Yahoo!, AOL and MSN are just those kind of brands, says eMarketer’s new report, Portal Marketing: The Big Four.
These Big Four dominate online ad revenues, much like the top four broadcast television networks still dominate TV’s ad budgets. By 2005, the four portals had captured more than half that year’s Internet ad spending of $12.5 billion. In 2007, eMarketer projects two-thirds of the $19.5 billion spent online will go to the Big Four.
Why are portals still so popular with advertisers? The short answer is tonnes of traffic. Each of the four averages 100 million or more unique visitors monthly.
With the home-page concept built into every Web browser, most Internet users set some page as their home. And for many people, the idea of a one-stop shop makes a lot of sense — a central doorway through which they can search, check mail, news, weather, and stocks. The massive scale and something-for-everyone kind of experience offered by portals will continue to attract a certain type of advertiser and consumer.
“Even though that mass-market approach cannot appeal to everyone, let’s acknowledge its meat-and-potatoes place on the Web,” says David Hallerman, senior analyst and author of the report. “While portals may not be cool, they often nourish.”
