IBM Predicts More Changes in the Advertising Industry over next five years than in last 50 in a report from their IBM Global Business Services called "The End of Advertising as We Know It".

IBM is planning on moving about 30 percent of their ad spend from traditional agencies to online ad exchanges within the next five years.

IBM is a company with a knack for seeing major shifts in technology and business - then adjusting its strategies to ensure its survival and prosperity. With the Real Estate industry undergoing a radical transformation from the Internet and associated consumer empowerment - the wise would be prudent to follow their lead.

The study concludes that those companies that are willing to change their mass audience way of thinking to starting to focus on niche consumer segments, while also delivering targeted, interactive advertising will be in a strong marketing position in contrast to their competitors.

click here to read the full IBM report

1st Online knows how to help Real Estate Brokers and Developers make the transition to the on-line sales world of the Internet.

There's a bit more to it than simply having an on-line brochure and PPC Ads.

If you see what we've been able to accomplish with TexasGulfCoastOnline.com in less than a year, you can get an idea of what we can do for your business.

And what you see on the web is just the tip of the iceberg.

Online real estate advertising will grow from a projected $2.6 billion in 2007 to a forecasted $4.3 billion in 2011

Spending on online real estate advertising will continue to grow during the housing downturn, surpassing spending on print ads by 2011, according to a forecast by Borrell Associates Inc.

Although Borrell expects growth in total real estate advertising to resume in 2010, the $11.2 billion projected real estate ad spend in 2011 would still fall short of the record level of spending at the height of the boom.

During the boom years from 2001 to 2005, spending on real estate advertising increased at about 9 percent a year, before peaking in 2006. Borrell now projects total real estate ad spending will shrink by 3.3 percent in 2007, to $11.46 billion.

"The real estate market went downhill in 2005, and the agents did what they always do at first -- they started advertising more," said Gordon Borrell, chief executive officer of the Williamsburg, Va.-based research and consulting firm, which tracks local advertising. "They ran out of money in about August or September of 2006, and the November to December timeframe is when we started to see significant changes in spending."

While real estate print advertising in newspapers and local listings magazines is expected to decline by 6.8 percent this year from a record $5.2 billion in 2006, Borrell projects online real estate advertising will grow by 25.8 percent, to $2.6 billion.

Borrell forecasts that online advertising will grow at a more modest 12.4 percent next year, while the decline in spending on print ads will continue and then accelerate.

Print advertising is expected to shrink by 16 percent in 2009 and 13 percent in 2010, with online real estate advertising surpassing print in 2011. In 2011, Borrell predicts online spending will hit $3.29 billion, compared to $3.19 billion for print.

By then, Borrell projects, Web sites will have cornered 37.5 percent of the market for real estate advertising, followed by newspapers (27.5 percent), direct mail (12.3 percent), other print (12.1 percent), broadcast TV (3.5 percent), directories (3.1 percent), out of home (2 percent), radio (1.2 percent) cable television (.9 percent) and telemarketing (0.3 percent).

Newspapers And Local Home Magazines Losing Real Estate Advertising To Web

According to a new release from Borrell Associates, real estate agents, who initially tried to appease home sellers by advertising more on traditional channels, this year cut their print budgets and pushed more money into the Web.

Total ad spending on real estate has declined 3 percent this year, while spending on the online segment has grown 25.8 percent, hitting $2.6 billion.

Borrell projects online real estate advertising to grow at 12.4 percent next year while total real estate advertising continues to compress.

In three years, says the report, agents and brokers will be spending more ad dollars with online media than with the newspaper.

Two million adjustable-rate mortgages are due to be re-priced over the next 24 months and as many as 25 percent of these might go into default as a result, consistent with a report published in October by the Census Bureau showing that homeownership fell for the fourth consecutive quarter.

From a peak of 69.3 percent of households in 2004, now only 68.1 percent of households own their own home.

After average annual increases of approximately nine percent in total real estate advertising between 2001 and 2005, the market essentially flat-lined in 2006 and is forecast to fall by 3.3 percent this year, says the report. This trend will continue for at least the next two years.

For newspapers, the situation is worse. The study projects that coming off last year's high of almost $5.2 billion in print advertising, there will be a 6.8 percent decline this year, almost the same again in 2008, followed by a 16 percent fall in 2009 and 13 percent in 2010. By then, real estate marketers will be spending more on online media than on newspapers or local homes magazines.

Expect a 48% Increase in Local Online Ad Spending in 2008

After a decade of testing the Web, local advertisers are making significant adjustments to their marketing dials, turning up the volume on online advertising. This news comes as Research and Markets has announced the addition of new Borrell Associates report: 2008 Outlook: Local Online Advertising to their offering.

The company expects a 48% increase in local online ad spending in 2008, bringing it to $12.6 billion. Driving most of the growth is the popularity of local search and online video advertising. Local search advertising will more than double next year, to $5 billion, while locally placed online video will triple, to almost $1.3 billion. A major component of local video advertising will be long-form pieces for home, automotive and health-related categories.

Next year will be a perplexing one for local media companies trying to tackle the Web. Most yellow pages publishers, cable companies, newspapers, radio stations and TV stations are still pinning their hopes on their traditional sales reps being able sell online ad packages. But there is increasing evidence to support the idea that a greater investment in an independent online sales force will be necessary to continue the growth these properties have enjoyed for the past few years.

The growth rates for most local media operators have slipped well below the overall growth rate for local online ad buys - which means these properties are losing market share. Much of that share is being captured by pure-play Internet companies hungry for the growth they see in the local market, although they are seeing benefits to partnering with local media companies to supplement their own efforts.

Key advertising segments for 2008 will continue to be the “Big 3″ classified categories of automotive, recruitment and real estate, with online political marketing holding promise for local sites as state and presidential campaigns heat up.

Marketing budgets will accelerate their shift out of traditional advertising formats (both offline and online) and into non-ad activities such as promotions and public relations, which are better at delivering the improved targeting and accountability that advertisers are demanding.