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DoubleClick Releases 'Decade in Online Advertising' Paper - 10-Year Retrospective Reveals that Industry Has Reached Tipping Point: Premium Publishers Entering Seller's Market, Advertisers Demand More Accountability, Consumers Crave More Control - NEW YORK, April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DoubleClick Inc. (NASDAQ:DCLK), a leading provider of marketing solutions for advertising agencies, marketers and web publishers, today released its 'Decade in Online Advertising' paper. The study, featuring custom data from Nielsen//NetRatings, charts the rise, fall and resurgence of online ad spending over the last 10 years and expounds upon current and future trends. Specifically the paper concludes, based on numerous data sources, that the online ad industry is entering a new period as a seller's market. The demand for online advertising is booming among mainstream advertisers, yet at the same time the growth among new U.S. Internet users and, therefore, the page views they generate is slowing. The result is a critical change in the dynamics of supply and demand of ad inventory. Taking note of the 10-year anniversary of the first web banners in October 1994, the DoubleClick report takes stock of industry milestones, from AT&T's original ad banner, through to today's myriad forms of online ads, including permission email, keyword-targeted search engine listings, interactive rich media ads, streaming audio and video and consumer-fueled "viral marketing." Overall, the paper taps DoubleClick's unique perspective as an early industry pioneer and current industry leader to assess the medium's origins, accomplishments and future opportunities. The paper also aims to put online advertising into context within the larger advertising and marketing industry, which is itself undergoing a transformation at this time, as corporations demand greater accountability for their marketing expenditures and consumers demand greater control over their media and marketing experiences. Key trends highlighted in the paper include the following: A Seller's Market Is Emerging in Online Advertising * The demand for online ad inventory is beginning to outstrip supply on top web sites. Spending on Internet advertising in the U.S. market rose at a rate of 32% year of year, from $7.3 billion in 2003 to $9.6 billion in 2004, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In that same period, however, the population of active U.S. Internet users and the page views they created both grew at a rate of only 5% from Q4 2003 to Q4 2004, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. * The result is something that many online publishers have not yet experienced: a great deal of inventory sold out at premium prices a month or two in advance. The Internet Is Answering Businesses' Demand for Greater Advertising Accountability * The advertising world is changing and one of the critical ways that is happening is a drive towards greater accountability. Online advertisers are coming to recognize that Internet measurement extends far beyond click and conversion tracking. * Online marketers today are employing many sophisticated performance measures including, but not limited to, search-engine click-stream data, in-direct response/view-throughs, offline sales impact, and rich media interactions. * Performance-based advertising, including search marketing and affiliate marketing, has skyrocketed in popularity, with search accounting for 40% of the online ad market according to the IAB. * Today's widely adopted rich media formats, which includes streaming video, yield much deeper reporting thanks to useful branding metrics such as ad interaction time and video plays and pauses. Media Companies and Advertisers Must Adapt to Consumers' Demand for Control * Consumers are acting to avoid advertising overload, paying for the unadulterated media they want and investing in technology to strip out unwanted ads, if necessary (think TiVo). Consumers want control of media and advertising, and digital technology has given them the tools to do so. * Advertisers have to accept not only that "being politer" is a good business practice; it's increasingly a legal requirement. There are many signs that advertisers are starting to get the message, and once again the Internet marketing community is leading the way, including the reduction of ad clutter through standardized ad sizes and an increasing focus on spyware. * The ultimate expression of consumers' desire to have more control over their content is reflected in the "citizen's media" movement of weblogs, social networks, audio podcasting and more. * The antidote marketers can provide to advertising overload? "Invertising:" relevant marketing messages suited to how consumers wish to interact with media in a world where increasingly they hold the balance of power. "The trends discussed in this paper portend a real shift for the online advertising industry, and one that we see as very positive," said Doug Knopper, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Ad Management at DoubleClick. "With competition for online ad inventory fast increasing, marketers will have to better optimize their media buys and closely examine all available metrics to measure performance. Further, in order to better engage consumers, advertisers will have to strive to be more entertaining, more informative, more relevant and more in tune with customers." The 21-page report is available for download at http://www.doubleclick.net/knowledge or by contacting . About DoubleClick Inc. DoubleClick is the leading provider of solutions for advertising agencies, marketers and web publishers to plan, execute and analyze their marketing programs. DoubleClick's marketing solutions -- online advertising, search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, database marketing, data management and marketing resource management -- help clients yield the highest return on their marketing dollar. In addition, the company's marketing analytics tools help clients measure performance within and across channels. DoubleClick Inc. has global headquarters in New York City and maintains 22 offices around the world. Contact: Jenny Connorton DoubleClick Inc. (212) 381-5183 DATASOURCE: DoubleClick Inc. CONTACT: Jenny Connorton of DoubleClick Inc., +1-212-381-5183, Web site: http://www.doubleclick.com/

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