Businesses 'to spend more on digital channels'

27/08/2008

Spending on digital media is likely to remain strong in the face of the current economic downturn, a new report has indicated.

Investment in channels such as websites, online advertising and social media looks set to stay high as more companies migrate from traditional media formats, the survey of key decision-makers by StrategyEye Digital Media showed.

About three-quarters of firms already have or intend to add social media elements to their existing web design projects, while 60 per cent plan to spend more on the channel in general, according to the poll.

Furthermore, 56 per cent said they will spend more on the mobile channel, with 78 per cent of those in the search sector confirming the growing importance of the semantic web to their operations.

"This major survey of attitudes going forward in digital media shows that despite continuing economic drift following the credit crunch, there remains continuing investment and expectation of returns from digital marketing channels," said co-founder and chief operating officer of StrategyEye Jeremy Phillips.

Accordign to IDC, web users around the world are spending more time on social media and other Web 2.0 activities as part of their everyday internet usage.