Paid Search Is Bigger Than Radio, Outdoor and Cinema Advertising

Using data from Efficient Frontier and MAGNAGLOBAL, KISSmetrics put together an insightful infographic titled “The Future of Paid Search: Google, Bing & Beyond.” Paid search is compared to other mainstream forms of advertising in the infographic, and Google and Bing are compared.

Paid-search spending is expected to reach $34 billion worldwide in 2011, according to KISSmetrics. Using this estimate, paid search will be bigger than radio advertising ($29.5 billion), outdoor advertising ($23.6 billion) and cinema advertising ($2.9 billion).

The money spent on search marketing is also shown to be gaining on paid-TV advertising. Back in 2006, paid search attracted $13.6 billion, while paid-TV ads attracted $28.9 billion. This reflected a 112 percent difference between the two mediums.

In 2011, paid search is expected to rake in $34.9 billion, while paid-TV ads is expected to attract $43.5 billion. This would reflect a 24 percent spending difference.

These numbers also show that since 2006, the amount of money spent on paid search has risen 250 percent.

By 2016, paid search is expected to grow 75 percent and become a $61.1 billion industry.

Google owns 79.1 percent of spending in the paid-search market, leaving Bing with 20.9 percent. Google’s share is up 6 percent year-over-year, while Bing’s share is up 197 percent year-over-year, thanks to its partnership with Yahoo.

In the auto sector, 77.8 percent of all search volume is generated by Google, while 22.2 percent is generated by Bing.

The split in the financial sector is 77.7 percent Google and 22.3 percent Bing, while the split in the retail sector is 84.8 percent Google and 15.2 percent Bing. In the travel sector, the split is 83.9 percent Google and 16.1 percent Bing.

KISSmetrics also notes that the average cost per click rose 11 percent year-over-year for Google and 4 percent for Bing. Meanwhile, Google’s return on investment (ROI) fell 12 percent, while Bing’s ROI rose 10 percent.

While Google’s lead in the market is obvious, KISSmetrics points to the upward trends for Bing. “If Bing can succeed in expanding their network while keeping click costs down and ROI up relative to Google, they could prove to be a serious paid search contender in the coming years,” the infographic concludes.

According to separate numbers from Forrester Research, search will claim $18 billion in 2011 and more than $33 billion by 2016. However, it will see its share of the interactive pie shrink from 55 percent today to 44 percent in 2016, as marketers move more of their search budgets to mobile and social networks.

Sources:

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/future-of-paid-search/

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