Amarach: search engine ads worth EUR30m

21-03-2007

by Ciara O'Brien

Search engine marketing is now the fastest growing advertising medium, worth more than EUR30 million a year, according to new research from Amarach Consulting.

Some individual companies are even spending more than EUR1 million on this advertising approach, indicating that it has become a force to be reckoned with in the Irish market.

And it's not difficult to see why. Two thirds of younger surfers (ie those in the 18-24 year-old age range) use search engines daily, while 93 percent of all internet users use search engines at least once a month. Meanwhile, almost half of all Irish internet users use search engines on a daily basis.

When combined with the finding that 53 percent of adults use the internet in Ireland, the figures make a compelling argument for adopting search engine marketing as a viable advertising medium. This usage level rises to 74 percent across the 18-34 age range.

With an average user spending six hours online every week, men remain the heavier users at almost six and a half hours. Women, meanwhile, spend only five and a half hours logged on. The 18-24 year-old age group spends more than eight hours per week online, with men within this group clocking up a nine hour average of internet time.

"The internet is now a dominant communications and entertainment channel for 1.7 million Irish consumers, and looks set to match tv and radio for reach by the end of the decade," said Gerard O'Neill, chief executive of AmArach Consulting.

"We are still at an early stage of development for online marketing practice in Ireland. However, advertisers have to 'follow the money' and with consumers spending more time online and using internet search engines on a daily basis then Search Engine Marketing will become a key feature in the marketing mix."