Web 2.0 Growing Faster Than Online Video, News

Web 2.0 Growing Faster Than Online Video, News

Web 2.0 sites--defined loosely in the session as those allowing users to "talk" to their "friends" via e-mail, messaging, blogs, and other social media tools--ranked first in year-over-year growth in unique audience and Web pages viewed. That put Web 2.0 ahead of categories including news and information, ISPs, video and movies, and family resources.

トラフィック急増サイトFeedburner (385%), Digg.com (286%), MySpace (170%), Wikipedia (161%), and Facebook (134%).

のびると思われるサイトyelp, which has user restaurant reviews; dogster, for dog lovers; online gaming community Xfire; Eons, aimed at baby boomers 50 and over; and video-sharing service BitTorrent.

The panelists also agreed that advertising will be the predominant business model for Web 2.0 sites. de Souza said advertising falls into two categories: Class 2, or remnant, and premium. Remnant advertising typically carries a CPM of less than $1, and is bought through large ad networks such as Advertising.com. A frequency cap is usually negotiated as part of the buy. Conversion rates hover at less than 0.1%--better than many news sites, but not as good as on premium sites such as iVillage, de Souza said.

Premium Web 2.0 ads have CPMs ranging from $2 to $20, and are bought directly by advertisers. They encompass a broader range of formats including sponsored groups, customized page backgrounds and online promotional contests.

Overall, most of the advertising on social sites is now text or banner ads from direct marketers, "definitely the lower end," as de Souza described it. But he said that during the last year, Web 2.0 sites had begun carrying higher-level brand and targeted advertising. He said that over time, the remnant advertising on social sites would also become more valuable as the sites became better at targeting the ads.

Buchwalter predicted a bright future for video advertising--in particular, for Web 2.0 sites. "There's no question video is going to play a huge role," he said. Market researcher eMarketer forecast online video advertising to grow to $2.9 billion by 2010 in a study released Monday.