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William Blair & Company and CIMA Release Fifth Installment of Semiannual Interactive Marketing Survey

Posted on: Tuesday, 8 July 2008, 12:00 CDT

William Blair & Company, in collaboration with the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association (CIMA), today published the fifth edition of a semiannual interactive marketing survey that the partnership uses to take the pulse of the industry and relay its practitioners' expectations for future performance and trends.

The survey targets the more than 800 members of CIMA, which was founded in 1997 and emphasizes cross-media outreach through an extensive itinerary of forums, panels, and seminars with industry experts, in addition to networking events. The fifth survey includes responses from nearly 150 members. Also, in partnership with CIMA, William Blair will jointly host the first ever panel discussion to explore the results of the survey, which will be held Tuesday, July 8, at 10:00 a.m. Central time. The dial-in number is (866) 243-8440 for the United States and Canada and (706) 902-3190 for international callers and the Conference ID is 54028947.

The fifth survey was conducted during second quarter 2008 and included 27 multiple-choice questions and two open-ended questions, of which 10 have been constant in all five surveys. All responses are anonymous.

William Blair equity research analyst Troy Mastin, who provides coverage on 21 marketing, advertising, and media companies, wrote in the survey, "Survey respondents indicated that the state of the industry remains healthy, but slightly less robust than previous surveys, most likely due to the shaky economy. The industry is expected to grow 16.1% over the next 12 months, which is below a consistent level of about 19% in the first four surveys, and online media prices have risen just 3.2% over the past six months versus an average of 7.2% in past surveys. Respondents expect search and direct marketers to be less affected (or possibly benefit) from the perceived slowdown in the industry."

Mastin also noted that Google remains dominant and Yahoo continues to slip. "Google was considered the best-positioned Internet 'media' company for the next two years, garnering 61% of the responses, up from the previous two surveys," he wrote. "Facebook, a stand-alone option for the first time, was a distant second with 11% of the responses, surprisingly exceeding much larger players like Yahoo, which received only 7% of responses (down from 30% in our inaugural survey published in early 2006). We expect the social networks and emerging players will continue to gain share from the portals, due to changes in consumer preference and the increasing fragmentation of the landscape."

Mastin concluded: "We remain bullish on the industry and continue to view it as an attractive one in which to invest. Companies with a strong connection to consumers, agencies, and technology-enhanced service providers are best positioned to capitalize on this growth. In the near term, we expect that shares of Google will lead the group because of its continued dominance in search and recent moves to secure strong positioning in display, video, social networking, and mobile advertising. Fundamentals remain strong for comScore, Omnicom, Interpublic, MDC Partners, and Web.com as well."

About CIMA: The Chicago Interactive Marketing Association's mission is to provide a forum for all professionals involved in interactive marketing to share ideas, continue their professional development, identify best practices, meet and stay connected to industry colleagues, and promote the value and successes of interactive marketing. Visit www.ChicagoIMA.org to learn more about CIMA.

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. (williamblair.com) is a Chicago-based investment firm offering investment banking, asset management, equity research, institutional and private brokerage, and private capital to individual, institutional, and issuing clients. Since 1935, we have been committed to helping clients achieve their financial objectives. As an independent, employee-owned firm, our philosophy is to serve our clients' interests first and foremost.

For important disclosures and information regarding the firm's rating system, valuation methods and potential conflicts of interest, please visit: http://www.williamblair.com/Pages/news_story_dept.asp?uid=1392&depID=4

Additional information is available upon request.

Source: Business Wire

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