WebProNews

UK advertisers who are fond of broadcast television have nothing to fear from its online counterpart, according to a new report.  In fact, the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) found that traditional "commercial impacts" are up, and it seems to believe that any sort of switch is still a long ways off.

Thinkbox, which published BARB's figures, claimed in a statement, "Commercial broadcast TV had a record-breaking first six months of 2008. Total commercial impacts were up 6% on the same period last year - 15% growth over the last five years."  And this occurred despite the arrival of commercial-skipping technology.

 Tess Alps

Meanwhile, online television has become more popular, too, but BARB described its rise as "incremental" by comparison.

All of this led Tess Alps, the CEO of Thinkbox, to state, "Broadcast TV revenues held firm in the first half of 2008, and, whatever the economic climate holds for the advertising market, I hope these figures will underline the great strength and resilience of commercial TV.  Advertisers should be taking advantage of a medium that offers proven effectiveness, increasing value, and is growing."

Still, it says something that little computer monitors are able to compete with big TV screens at all, and as online-only content becomes more common, some more catch-up may take place.