Of surveyed U.S. advertising professionals, 90% say clients buying more geographically targeted online ads in 2011 than ever before, 50% say geo-targeted ads deliver higher response rates than other options, Topix survey finds

Kendall Sinclair

PALO ALTO, California , June 29, 2011 (press release) – Topix (www.topix.com), the largest local forum site in the U.S., today announces new research that shows the market for geo-targeted online advertising is booming, as indicated by 90 percent of advertising professionals surveyed stating their clients are buying more geographically-targeted online ads in 2011 than ever before. Of those seeing growth, roughly 33 percent say the growth is in the double-digits with another 13 percent seeing their spend on local online advertising more than double as compared to last year.

“Monetization has been the huge question around online local,” said Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix. “With media properties now able to accommodate zip-code level targeting, this research dovetails with forecasts that the market for locally focused online advertising will reach $35B by 2014.”

Topix’s “State of Local Online Advertising” survey found 75 percent of advertising professionals believe a key benefit of buying geo-targeted ads online is it gives them another tool for reaching target audiences, 60 percent noted these types of ads deliver a stronger return on investment than other buys and 50 percent said they deliver higher response rates.

Additional findings include:

* More than half of those surveyed have bought space – directly or through an ad network – on the geo-local targeted pages on Google while another 33 percent have purchased space on the online site of a local newspaper. More than 20 percent have purchased space on a hyperlocal site such as Patch, Topix or Examiner.com
* 76 percent of respondents believe business services are well suited to locally-oriented sites, 71 percent say consumer products are also well suited for these types of ads and half think political ads are a good fit for geographically targeted sites.
* 73 percent of those surveyed believe media with a local context performs better for geographically targeted ads

“Today’s findings show that national advertisers, and their agencies, understand that local ads in a local context are more than four times more effective, and are becoming a mainstream tool to reach consumers which is great for local sites like Topix that provide neighborhood level news and information,” continued Tolles.

For its “State of Local Online Advertising” survey, Topix, and its partner Corona Insights, surveyed 60 advertising professionals, many of whom are media buyers and account staff at the country’s top agencies. Of the 60 respondents, half work at agencies with revenues of more than $500 million and nearly 30 percent work at agencies with revenues in the billions.


About Topix

Topix is a platform for local influence, connecting people to the information and discussions that matter to them in every U.S. town and city. A Top 10 online newspaper destination (comScore, October 2010), Topix also works with the nation’s major media companies to grow and engage their online audiences through forums, publishing platforms and RSS feeds. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Topix LLC is a privately held company with investment from Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Tribune Company. For more, visit www.topix.com.

© 2024 Business Wire, Inc., All rights reserved.