MAM
US online ad market to be worth $26 billion in 2010
MUMBAI: Online marketing and advertising in America will rival cable and satellite TV and radio ad spend in five years time. It will reach $26 billion by 2010.
This data is contained in a study done by Forrester Research. This year alone will post a 23 per cent increase on last year’s figures, the report says, to $14.7 billion. The report titled US Online Marketing Forecast: 2005 To 2010 further indicates that almost half of marketers plan to decrease spending in traditional advertising channels like magazines, direct mail, and newspapers to fund an increase in online ad spending in 2005. By 2010, online marketing and advertising will represent eight per cent of total ad spend.
The report notes that despite significant changes in consumer behaviour, there is a large disparity between the amount of time consumers are spending online and the money marketers are spending trying to reach them online. When at-work Internet use is taken into consideration, online consumers spend more than one-third of their time online–roughly the same amount of time they spend watching TV. Yet marketers spend only four per cent of ad budgets online versus 25 per cent on TV.
Other key findings by Forrester Research include the fact that search engine marketing will grow by 33 per cent in 2005, to reach $11.6 billion by 2010. Display advertising, which includes traditional banners and sponsorships, will grow at the average rate of 11 per cent over the next five years to $8 billion by 2010.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
