Taking the 'Net boom very seriously indeed is International Data
Corporation Asia/Pacific (IDC), which has identified that online adspend
in Asia-Pacific will reach an astronomical US$1 billion by
2004.
According to IDC's Asia-Pacific Internet analyst, Matthew McGarvey,
companies were still taking a "wait-and-see" approach to
advertising.
Soberingly, the report - entitled Online Advertising Asia-Pacific -
found that during '99 online advertising in the region accounted for 0.5
per cent of total regional adspend.
However IDC also forecast online adspend growth by a compound annual
rate of 76 per cent, from 1999's US$67 million.
Mr McGarvey said much of the growth would occur between 2002 and 2004,
the latter being a year in which the industry is set to generate
advertising revenues pushing the US$1.15 billion mark.