Paid search during recession times 0
The global financial crisis and deepening recession in the UK, with falling house prices, sharply rising unemployment and weak foreign demand, will contribute towards the contraction of GDP in 2009-10. According to different financial sources, a negative GDP growth in the UK is anticipated in 2009, with a forecast of 0.9% in 2010.
In addition, public borrowing and debt is rising sharply from 36% in 2006-2007 to 48% at the end in 2008 as a percentage of GDP, to dangerously high levels, as economic activity drops and the government is forced to take additional steps to support the economy.
On the other hand, Britons are spending more time online, and increased use of the Internet through ever-quicker broadband services means that the number of page views is also rising sharply. According to recent data published in the UK by TNS, a breakdown by occupation shows striking differences of internet use; students for example spend 39% of their leisure time online, while unemployed (32%) but still far less than housewives who spend 47%
The UK market for paid search reached £2.75 billion in 2008 after a 23% increase on the previous year according to E-consultancy figures. Despite the rise of social media, review and price comparison sites, search engines still remain the consumer’s favourite starting part to make an online purchase. In general, search engine marketing is gaining maturity. For instance, Internet sales in the UK accounted for 15 % of the £6.1bn retailing AV market in 2008.
More market data confirms that there are growing online opportunities and search marketing is the largest online ad format in the UK – accounting for 60% of total online spend. Paid search according to Forrester Research not only accounted for nearly 49% of the global online ad spend in 2008, but it is also one of the fastest growing online ad formats.
But in this economic downturn, different aspects need to be taken into consideration as
