The online platforms they have become important engines of social, cultural and economic innovation, allowing an unprecedented exchange of information and multiplying commercial interactions. At the same time, some of them have acquired a position that tends to be increasingly important, raising questions on the front of the guarantees of contestability of the market.
An important portion of the 2022 annual report of the Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM) presented at the end of last week.
Emerge come the total revenues deriving from advertisements on all media in the period 2016-2021 are, for platforms, almost tripledreaching 46% of the total.
The pandemic has widened the gap between online advertising and advertising in traditional media. A further has been determined decrease in the weight of advertising revenue on traditional mediawhile online advertising investments account for over 54% of total advertising investments in our country.
Investments in digital advertising are flying in Europe
by Pier Luca Santoro
Online platforms have economic advantages deriving from the vertical integration and horizontal differentiation strategies that have allowed them to conquer important positions in the different services and this is reflected in a high ability to attract audiencewith obvious repercussions on the advertising side.
Furthermore, the vast number of users reached gives the platforms the availability of large amounts of data which allows an accurate profiling of users, allowing advertisers to reach specific targets. The ability to exploit user data is the competitive factor that favors platforms for advertisers over their online competitors and other media in general.
A situation is therefore consolidating for which the platforms, making minimal use of the intermediation services offered by third parties, generate a majority share of revenues at all stages of the online advertising value chain.
In fact, as regards specifically online advertising investments, the weight of the so-called OTT (Over The Top), at the end of 2021, was 84.5%.
Recently, opening the traditional annual meeting of the Association of Advertising Investors (UPA), the President, Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi, stressed that “In the multiverse world in which we operate, for us investors, the reference share becomes attention time of people”.
Time which, according to the latest available Audiweb data, is largely dedicated to the services / products of the platforms, with social media and instant messaging that account for just under 50% of the time spent online by Italians.
The perception of Italian consumers towards advertising on social media
by Pier Luca Santoro
