eMarketer revises British social networks ad predictions

Posted by Erina Lin on January 12, 2009 at 7:51 PM

According to eMarketer's prediction in mid 2008, British social network ad spending would reach £175 million ($322 million) in 2009. However, the research company revises it by cutting down about 20 percent, although it'll still be a healthy growth over the total estimated £115 million ($212 million) for 2008.

MySpace, the worldwide biggest social network among English speakers, has its British market share dropped by one-half in the year ending in June 2008, from over 29 percent to less than 15 percent, according to Hitwise, eMarketer reported.

Its strong rival, Bebo, is also declining. Based on Nielsen Online data from August 2008, Bebo fell from the second to fourth place in the UK social site rankings by Blogger, with only 14.1 percent audience reach.

However, Facebook does a good job in recent months. Its unique user base in the UK rose from 12.4 million in December 2007 to 18.4 million in September 2008, according to comScore World Metrix. But its ad sales are in a struggle in the UK, as well as in the United States, eMarketer reported.

Social network ads will represent about 4.4 percent of total British online ad spending in 2009, which reflects the growing percentage of the online social networking population. Over one out of three British online users between age 18 and 55 had visited such sites in the past month as of December 2008, while over hlaf of teenagers have a social netoworking profile, according to TNS.