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Brief
IOA to address online advertising issues
Internet ads account for a piffling one percent of overall
spending in India. The IOA wants to change that, says Akhtar Pasha
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Internet users are expected to go up from 25 million in 2004 to 100 million
users by the year 2007. This creates a huge opportunity
for marketers
Preeti Desai
President
Internet & Online Association
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Internet & Online Association (IOA) is looking forward
to tackle the issues being faced by online advertisers and portals who host
online ads. Founded in early 2004 by Hindustantimes.com, Indiatimes.com, MSN.co.in,
Rediff.com, Sify.com, Yahoo.co.in and online media agency Mediaturf. The objective
of the IOA is to address issues, concerns and growth related to online media,
advertising, e-commerce and wireless/ mobile advertising.
Preeti Desai, president, Internet & Online Association, says, “Online
advertising is worth Rs 79 crore as compared to the Rs 8,693 crore total ad
revenue market. Currently online advertising is dramatically under-leveraged
and marketers are missing a huge strategic growth opportunity. As per our statistics
Internet users are expected to go up from 25 million in 2004 to 100 million
users by the year 2007. This creates a huge market opportunity for marketers.”
As per the data available at IOA, by 2007, there will 180 million mobile phones,
140 million of this would use mobile data services and 40 million users will
be mobile Internet.
Desai says, “All members of IOA are coming together
on a common platform to share their knowledge and collaborate in lifting the
online advertisement industry. Collectively IOA will carryout nine different
types of research to empower marketers for marketing, education and promotions.
The research will be in the areas of online advertising, mobile Internet and
e-commerce.” One of the reasons cited for poor growth of online advertising
is the inability to use calibrated ‘creatives’ for advertising. Desai
adds, “Earlier no strategy was laid down by marketers to calculate RoI.”
(It is estimated that only two percent of advertisers use online advertising
medium). As a body, IOA will lay down standards in creative, which will help
marketers to justify RoI in online advertising.
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