Advertising agencies surveyed worldwide planned to increase their search engine marketing (SEM) spending more in 2008 than did advertisers themselves, according to the recently released "State of Search Engine Marketing 2007" report sponsored by the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) and conducted by Radar Research.
That said, the advertisers surveyed said they planned to increase
their paid-placement spending by more than one-third, and agencies said
they planned to up their spending by more than one-half.
An economic downturn for 2008 was looking likely in some countries when the survey was fielded, yet respondents did not predict more conservative spending than in previous years. SEMPO said that search marketers have always been price-sensitive. Advertisers surveyed
consistently said each year that, while roughly three-quarters could
afford a price increase for paid placement, such an
increase would need to be on the order of 30% or less.
eMarketer predicts total search advertising spending for 2008 will approach $20 billion worldwide, and nearly double to $39.7 billion in 2012.
Learn more about digital ad spending in the US. Read eMarketer's US Online Advertising: Resilient in a Rough Economy report.