GREENBlog

• Posted by Liz Hirst
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The internet is the most influential of all media channels, beating TV almost two-fold, according to a joint study by Harris Interactive and Fleishman-Hillard Research.
In the UK, the average response on how influential the internet is was 42%, followed by TV with 23%.
The two research firms analysed the media consumption patterns and internet behaviour of nearly 5,000 users across the three markets.
Despite the strong influence of the internet, consumers are concerned about internet safety. While less than half of online consumers in the UK (48%) believe that it’s very safe to sell and buy things online (compared to 34% in France and 29% in Germany), only 25% of UK users trust the information companies put on the web.
Meanwhile, according to a Reuters report the Internet will overtake television as the biggest advertising medium in Britain this year, with over 19 per cent of total ad spend.
The main engine for growth continues to be paid search on sites such as Google but research group Enders said it had also seen early signs that the popularity of online video is now making a small contribution to a shift in advertising from television to the Internet.
The report said Google would remain the biggest beneficiary of the growth in search advertising and predicted it would take 80 percent of UK spend on search advertising, up from 78 percent in 2007.