The Autumn edition of the AMAS.ie Irish State of the Net Report. Figures on Digital Media, Advertising and eCommerce.

1. State of the Net
essential eBusiness intelligence for Irish managers www.amas.ie
A quarterly bulletin on online activity in Ireland ISSN: 1649 issue 18 Autumn 2010
Media habits change - and budgets follow
which rely on media, traditional The big Publishers’ ranks in Apple App Store for Ireland
and digital, to build their brands question for
and transmit their marketing or media is:
communications messages. who pays Top paid media apps
for online
Advertising follows audience – content?
advertising budgets in Ireland Not us, say 20
are already on the move from Irish online
traditional to digital media. audiences.
Digital accounts for 10% of A resounding 27
total advertising spend but 88% of Irish
if trends across Europe, as people
evidenced by IAB research, are are not 47
a barometer that figure could prepared
Aileen O’Toole, double over the coming years. to pay
Managing Director, for online Top free media apps
AMAS Nowhere is the shift in media content,
behaviour more pronounced according to
than with news content: international 1
Irish audiences are • Want to catch the 9pm research
consuming more media news bulletin when you’re conducted
across a varied range of not at home? No need to set by KPMG. This 2
platforms, formats and the DVD player. Just log on to reflects similar studies
technologies. The internet the RTÉ Player, as thousands internationally, which
is changing the Irish media of viewers do each month show a marked 22
landscape, with profound to catch the TV programmes reluctance to pay for
implications for media they miss the type of content
organisations and audiences. • Need to catch the latest that traditional 24
Greater and increasingly news headlines when on the publishers, such as
free media choices may move? No need to switch newspapers, offer.
be a positive, the argument on the radio, or fire up your 26
goes, but the internet may laptop to log on to a news Yet there does not
© AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
result in the dumbing down website. Instead, use your seem to be a similar
of content, with quality iPhone and access the reluctance to part with 28
journalism being the casualty. headlines and the stories cash to buy high-end
through one of the many gadgets or apps to
Far from being an insider dozens of news or media apps provide mobile access 30
debate, what’s happening • Want not only to read the to news content. Irish
in media is important to news, but to contribute to consumer demand
businesses and organisations a debate about a breaking for iPhones, iPads 42
story? You can and other must-
Paid content Ireland UK still “call Joe” or have gadgets is
write a letter to phenomenal – Source: Apple’s App store for Ireland,
a newspaper queues form outside accessed on 31 August 2010
Yes - all 2% 7%
editor. But mobile phone shops
among Irish iPhone users. News
increasingly you’re on foot of rumours that a
Yes - some 10% 12% apps from three traditional
likely to join the stock of iPhone 4s has landed.
news organisations – The Irish
conversation about There is no official data on the
Times, The Guardian and The
No 88% 81% that big story of the number of iPhones in use, but
Irish Independent – are in the
day on Facebook, informed estimates put it at
top 50 paid apps for Ireland on
Source: KPMG, Consumers and Convergence IV, Twitter and a galaxy around 350,000 and climbing.
Apple’s App Store. The once-
July 2010. Global survey covering 22 countries. of other sites where
off costs of these apps is
Data is based on a sample of 300 respondents in news is shared and News apps – both free and
Ireland and 410 respondents in the UK discussed. paid – are proving popular continued on page 5
Compiled by AMAS in association with the Irish Internet Association

2. 1. Digital advertising Online advertising in Europe
2010 marks a watershed for digital advertising
in Ireland, with the publication of the first study Greece
16%
from IAB Ireland/PricewaterhouseCoopers. Austria
Digital advertising was worth €97.2 million in 14% Poland
2009, or 10.3% of the Irish advertising market. 12% Turkey
With advertising spend suffering a 20% fall
Year-on-year growth 2009
in 2009, digital is proving to be more resilient 10% Finland
Ireland Spain
than other categories. 8% Germany
Hungary
United Kingdom
Search – predominately Google AdWords 6% Italy Sweden
– was the dominant format, accounting for 4%
Belguim Netherlands
46.2% of online advertising spend, followed by Slovenia
Norway
classifieds (27.2%) and display (26.6%). A variety 2%
France
of formats, including email, sponsorships and 0%
Denmark
affiliates, are included in the display category. 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
-2% Croatia
Property, recruitment and motoring were the Online Market Share
-4% Romania
Slovakia © AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
Irish online advertising breakdown -6%
Finance
© AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
Sources: IAB Europe, AdEx 2009 Internet advertising spending in Europe. IAB
Finance
Auto Ireland and PwC, Online Adspend Study 2009
Auto 7% 9%
Telco 2%
7% 9% biggest spenders, accounting for 45% tested methodology across all markets.
Telco
Retail 6% 2%
Retail 6% of digital advertising spend.
FMCG Equivalent IAB research in other
20%
FMCG
Travel 20% Why is this study so important? Many markets has accelerated the growth
Travel large advertisers, notably global in online advertising, at the expense
Govt/Public sector 25%
Govt/Public sector 25% brands, tend not to commit budgets of traditional media. More mature
Recruitment/Property without industry-recognised data. markets, such as the UK and the
Recruitment/Property 9% And that’s what they’re getting – Nordic countries, are reporting online
Ent & Media 9%
Ent & Media the reconstituted IAB Ireland is advertising market shares in excess
Technology 5% part of a network of similar industry of 20%. Expect the next IAB Ireland
3%
Technology
Other 3%5% 10% 5% bodies internationally while Price- study, for the first half of 2010, to start
Other 5% 10% waterhouseCoopers uses a tried and plotting that growth curve.
2. Broadband 1,600,000
1,500,000
Broadband growth
1,509,934
A new high point has been reached in Irish broadband
1,400,000 1,443,350
adoption, with the number of subscribers exceeding 1,305,035
1.5 million for the first time. ComReg data for quarter 1,300,000 1,272,166
1,361,254
one of 2010 reveals that broadband demand has 1,200,255
not been dented by the economic downturn, with 1,200,000 1,125,000
quarterly growth at 4.6% and annual growth at 19.3%. 1,100,000
1,055,000
992,000 © AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
Mobile is the fastest growing platform, accounting for 1,000,000
one in three of all broadband subscriptions. Year-on-
year, mobile subscriptions grew by 47.2% with the rate of
Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Q1 09 Q2 09 Q3 09 Q4 09 Q1 10
growth tapering off. The quarter one number translates
into an increase of 9.7% on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Source: ComReg Quarterly Key Data Report, July 2010

3. Top Trends
2010 2009
3. Digital 2010 2009
economy
1 Sweden 2 16 Japan 22
2 Denmark 1 17 Ireland 18
3 United States 5 18 Germany 17
4 Finland 10 19 Switzerland 12
5 Netherlands 3 20 France 15
6 Norway 4 21 Belgium 20
7 Hong Kong 8 22 Bermuda 21
8 Singapore 7 23 Malta 23
9 Australia 6 24 Spain 25
10 New Zealand 11 25 Estonia 24
11 Canada 9 26 Israel 27
12 Taiwan 16 27 Italy 26
13 South Korea 19 28 Portugal 28
© AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
14 UK 13 29 Slovenia 29
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit,
15 Austria 14 digital economy rankings, June 2010 30 Chile 30
At last, an international economic cultural and legal environment – to arrive the 70 countries covered. This heading
indicator that has some good news for at the scoreboard. Over the ten years it measures successful implementation and
Ireland. The Economist Intelligence Unit has been tracking digital activity, the EIU evaluates “the amount that businesses
(EIU) ranks Ireland in 17th place in a global has made changes to keep pace with and consumers spend on accessing ICT
scoreboard of digital economic activity. developments, for instance factoring services, the extent and range of internet
That’s one place ahead on the previous the share of fibre optic access lines into features used by individuals, their online
year’s score, within a whisker of the its broadband scores and looking at 3G purchasing activity, and the extent to
UK’s ranking (14) and ahead of leading and 4G mobile subscriptions to arrive at a which individuals and businesses use the
European economies such as Germany score for mobile adoption. online public services that have been
(18) and France (20). made available.”
A breakdown of Ireland’s scorings
The EIU uses a number of measures – under the various EIU categories is This stellar result compensated for other
connectivity, infrastructure, consumer revealing. In one category, “consumer categories, such as government policy and
and business adoption, government and business adoption,” Ireland made the legal environment, where the Irish scores
policy, as well as the business, social, it to the premier league – ranking 8th of were lower than Ireland’s overall average.
the opportunity to win online

4. 4. eCommerce 20%
23%
Purchasing behaviour
68%
Travel
Not every business can sell its goods or services online 12%
but, increasingly, more and more purchasing decisions
54%
are being researched or influenced online.
Technology 32%
Up to now the evidence has been mainly anecdotal. 15%
A consumer walks into a store, tries on a pair of jeans, 26%
notes the details and buys the jeans in an online store.
Media, Ents 31%
Another reads reviews about new smartphones on
gadget websites, makes a shortlist, visits a physical 6%
phone shop, tests the shortlisted phones and buys one.
42%
A third reads reviews on TripAdvisor, compares prices
Finance 27%
on a range of sites before using a deals website to
secure the best rate for a weekend break. 10%
Research offline, purchase online 49%
The Consumer Confidence Barometer tracks the
Retail 19%
consumer journey from research through offline
Research online, purchase to purchase. 20%
The research was commissioned by Google and IAB 23%
Europe, and carried out by market research agency
Research online, purchase online 1% Travel 68
27% © AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
TNS. It questioned 2,000 Irish consumers about their 12%
shopping habits. Automotive 8% 54%
Technology 32%
It shows marked differences in purchasing behaviours 0% 15%
26%
across different sectors. Unsurprisingly, travel is the 18% 31%
Media, Ents
sector where there is the greatest level of online FMCG, healthcare 4%
research leading to online purchasing. 6%
42%
0 10 20 30
Finance 40 50 27% 60 70
What websites or online resources influence consumers?
10%
The Irish research show a similar pattern across all sectors, Research offline, purchase online Source: Consumer Commerce Barometer, 49%
with search being dominant (73% to 79% depending on which covered 25 countries and 36 product
Retail 19%
Research online, purchase offline
the sector), followed by manufacturer websites (44% to categories, Irish data based on a sample of
1%
55%) and social media sites (21 – 25%) Research online, purchase online 2,000, data compiled April 2010 27%
Automotive 8%
5. Social media
0%
Facebook users in Ireland 18%
FMCG, healthcare 4%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Love it, loathe it, can’t ignore it. network and to share favourite internet
Facebook is changing online behaviour content, from YouTube videos to news
© AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
and is becoming a powerful marketing stories. Internationally, Facebook is closing
and communications channel (but not the traffic gap with Google. Facebook was
one that suits all brands). ranked as the number one website in June
in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore
The number of Irish registered users on and Hong Kong, according to website traffic
Facebook was 1.7 million in August data gathered by Experian Hitwise.
2010, four times what it was at the
start of 2009. An active Irish user is Social networking sites such as Facebook
likely to be on the site every day, are winning a greater share of advertising
increasingly accessing Facebook budgets, with campaigns being organised
over a mobile phone rather than a globally but using local content to reach
Source: Facebook, Jan 2009 - Aug 2010 PC, and using the site to socialise, and engage customers in specific markets.
www.amas.ie

5. Top Trends
continued from front page
less than the price of a skinny latte – There is an expectation that Estimated newspaper revenue declines (2007-09)
€1.59, €2.99 and €2.39 respectively – established media organisations % -0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35
and must be considered good value with strong franchises in their
USA -30
against the cost of one printed daily respective markets will reinvent
UK -21
newspaper (€1.80, €1 and €1.80). themselves in the digital age.
Greece -20
Italy -18
There is a healthy demand, too, As for quality journalism, new
Canada -17
for free apps which are being collaborative forms of investigative
Spain -16
used by traditional and online journalism are emerging through
Turkey -16
publishers to boost website traffic the internet. Citizen journalism
Japan -15
and engagement. Ironically, the means that authentic video, audio
New Zealand -13
top free app, from Sky, comes and other content from a warzone
Poland -11
from the same stable as the or the scene of a humanitarian
Ireland -10
newspapers that are trying to disaster gets to our screens (TV,
Germany -10
pioneer paid online newspaper PC, mobile) within hours. New
Hungary -9
content (Rupert Murdoch’s News audiences are being found for
Norway -8
International) – with less than “long form” journalism – powerful,
Switzerland -8
convincing results. well-written features from the likes
Belgium -8
of Vanity Fair – through Twitter and
It would be foolish, though, to write a range of other sites. Finland -7
© AMAS graphic (www.amas.ie)
off traditional media, particularly Sweden -7
newspapers. International studies, How this will all play out in terms of Portugal -7
such as the most recent from audience behaviour and the very Korea -6
the OECD, don’t sugar-coat the survival of many traditional media Czech Republic -6
facts – newspaper circulations are organisations, is too difficult to call. Netherlands -6
in decline globally, advertising One thing is sure – as new media Denmark -6
revenues are under threat and new patterns emerge, the churn and Mexico -5
business models need to emerge. the change will continue. France -4
Australia -3
Source: OECD, the evolution of news and the internet, June 2010
Austria -2
(graph includes both online and offline revenues of traditional newspapers)
New skills will be ‘engine room’
For Irish businesses too, there Training and Prosperity their business, helping it to
is a critical need for managers Recruitment, has identified become more efficient and
to learn or refresh their skills the core skills for this more profitable.
for a knowledge based professional discipline.
economy, particularly in The modules cover topics
Joan Mulvihill fast-growing areas such Our new Diploma in Digital such as digital marketing
CEO, Irish Internet Association as eCommerce, social net- Marketing includes a FETAC strategy, search engine
working and mobile internet. accreditation (level 5 minor optimisation, online
In today’s rapidly changing award) for participants advertising, mobile web,
digital landscape, upskilling Online marketing will who successfully complete website analytics, social
and reskilling are very much play an essential role a digital marketing plan, media, online PR and
the order of the day. For in leveraging these search engine assignment digital trends. Gareth
individuals, this is reflected in new applications and and research plan. Dunlop (Ion Online
the major increase in CAO technologies for greater Marketing), Colm Grealy
applications by mature return on investment. The The new course builds (Adforce.ie), Krishna De
students – up by 26% this challenge is to develop on the IIA’s experience (BizGrowthNews.ie) and
year. Ongoing training and courses to enhance over the past decade Conor Pope (Irish Times)
education by this group knowledge and skills in this in providing training for are among the speakers.
now accounts for 13% of all relatively new discipline. internet practitioners, and
college applications, and gives participants a solid For further information on
new skills will be the engine The Irish Internet Association, basis on which to build a the diploma, check out
room of economic recovery. in partnership with Irish Times digital marketing plan for www.iia.ie/diploma.

6. Is your reputation being trashed online?
BP, Nestlé, Honda, • Almost two
United Airlines years on, the top
and Dominos search results
have something for Irish pork are
in common apart still all about the
from being big contamination
brands – all have and recall in
been badly 2008
mauled in the
social media People are
space. All have spending an
taken a battering increasing share
from angry users of their media
of Facebook and time on the • Who is talking about us some brands have turned
Twitter. Fiachra Ó Marcaigh internet. Much online, where and what are social media to their
Director, AMAS of that time is they saying? advantage and are using
They are not the spent on social • How much influence do these channels to understand
first big brands media, where these voices have? customer sentiment, deal with
this has happened they express themselves, • What impact is this having customer service queries and
to and they won’t be the last. rather than just consume on our business and how it is market their brands. Listening,
Other examples include Irish information. perceived? engaging and interacting
businesses (big and small) • When should we join in with customers through social
and individuals. Social media can focus and when should we ignore media delivers results.
and amplify ill-feeling that comment?
• The campaign against the is already widespread. But • What allies and assets do
Hunky Dorys adverts earlier even one angry person we have to monitor and AMAS: what we do
this year had a large online can attract a worldwide protect our reputation AMAS is an internet consultancy
aspect, with hundreds of audience for a complaint online? with a simple goal – help our
posts on sites like Boards.ie, (sometimes video or musical) • Are our own staff helping clients to exploit the internet.
mostly negative that goes viral. or not? Large corporates, government
• Supermarkets, telcos bodies and, increasingly, high-
and insurance companies The reputations of brands, Experience shows that it is potential businesses retain us to
are among those regularly businesses and individuals often a customer, supplier or develop and help implement
trashed online by their face many new challenges in staff member who alerts a internet strategies.
customers. Expect to see this environment. Among the company to a reputational
phrases like “lousy service”, questions business owners and issue on a social media site. We cut through the clutter
“I hate” and “rip off” managers must consider are: But it’s not all negative – and the complexity to allow
our clients to capitalise on the
unlimited opportunities offered
by the internet.
From the AMAS blog.... Services:
• Strategy
Manage your social media presence • Research
• User experience
• Content
AMAS has launched Social It combines strategic planning, • Training
Media Means Business, a practical implementation and • Marketing
programme to empower Irish training for effective use of • Project management
businesses to manage their social media.
online reputations, launch Contact Aileen O’Toole,
campaigns and deliver For more information, contact Managing Director on
gains through social media AMAS on info@amas.ie or go +353 1 6610499 or info@amas.ie
channels. to amas.ie/blog.
© AMAS Ltd.
Published by AMAS Ltd., 38 Lr. Leeson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel: +353 1 6610499
Email: info@amas.ie Web: www.amas.ie