London :comScore, Inc. has released the results of a study of U.K. online display advertising on social networking sites, based on data from the comScore Ad Metrix service. The study showed that social networking sites accounted for 13.8 billion display ad impressions in August 2009, representing more than 25 percent of all display ads viewed online.
Telecommunications Brands are U.K.’s Top Advertisers on Social Networking Sites
Telecommunications companies, including Telefonica O2, Deutsche Telekom, and British Telecommunications, were the heaviest social networking site advertisers, delivering more than 949 million display ad impressions on social networking sites in August, or approximately 7 percent of all display ads delivered in the site category. The retail advertiser category, which includes leading brands such as DFS, Tesco, and John Lewis, ranked second with 753 million display ad views, followed by banking brands (e.g. Barclays and HSBC) with 248 million, travel brands (e.g. Thomas Cook and Travelzoo.com) with 213 million, and entertainment brands (e.g. Sky and Sony) with 181 million display ad views.
Of the top 10 advertiser categories on social networking sites, teen content advertisers like Habbo and NHS-owned TeenLifeCheck delivered the highest proportion of their ad impressions in the social networking category at 37.3 percent. Online dating advertisers (33.8 percent) and retail advertisers (30.1 percent) also delivered an above average proportion of their ads in the site category.
A demographic analysis of display ads on social networking sites in the U.K. revealed that while ad delivery skewed somewhat younger than average, all age segments were reached with a notable percentage of display ads.
15-24 year olds were the highest indexing age segment, accounting for 29 percent of display ad impressions while representing 23 percent of the total category audience. Those between the ages of 25-44 received ads at a slightly higher than average rate, while those 45 and older received ads at a lower than average rate. Each of the five age segments accounted for at least 15 percent of the category audience and 10 percent of ad impressions.