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Reversing the advertising trend somewhat, Chicago-based online firm uBid will begin using TV and radio advertising in order to convey its message in an effort to avoid the high prices of Internet advertising. Despite the surge in online advertising and the projected growth of the advertising medium, uBid is looking into direct-response television ads and “other forms of advertising” according to a statement in the Chicago Tribune from Robert Tomlinson, uBid’s chief exec.
With costs constantly rising within pay-per- advertising, uBid isn’t the only company searching for other outlets that will generate response. Performics, a search and affiliate marketing division of DoubleClick, reported that half of the search spending in Q3 2006 was priced at $1 and over. Furthermore, the cost-per-click rates have climbed between 30 and 50 percent in only two years.
Tomlinson also told the Tribune, “The online medium has gotten so financially egregious from a cost perspective that many of us are pulling out of paid search and comparison shopping. We were paying 30 cents a click…Now we’re paying over $1.20 a click.”
Once keen on purchasing their term “uBid”, the company has halted the purchase of keywords for branded products like Dell Computer. And with professionals like Eric Obeck, President of SendTec, a direct response agency, consumers can find a site aside from pay-per-click advertising by using mediums such as television and others.
“Television is proving to be a key driver for search-engine marketing,” Obeck commented to the CT.
Already, uBid is claiming it’s had a positive response to the television commercials. “When ads ran on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, our online traffic popped. We saw a 40 percent lift in traffic instantaneously. In addition, consumer registrations to uBid have climbed 80 percent since the ads began,” Tomlinson added.
