Top Internet Trends in Europe for 2009

Current economic downturn will expedite the digital transformation, despite the slowdown in macro-economic growth and reduced availability of financial resources, in Europe.

Some of the major changes that I believe we shall be seeing during this eventful year will be:

1. Online Advertising Will Gain Share
Internet will continue to gain share in terms of the advertising market. Marketing departments, across industries, including sectors, such as FMCG and apparel, will start looking more closely at Internet, as an effective advertising channel. A larger proportion of the reduced advertising spend will make its way to the Internet. Internet companies, such as Google and Yahoo will continue to battle with the traditional media companies that have significant Internet foothold, to try to ensure that they are the largest gainers of this trend.

2. Rich Media Format Will Become Mainstream
Rich Media formats will continue to gain foothold across the broad Internet, including e-Commerce, social networks, portals, etc. Online publishers in every market will try to make the best use of Rich Media to increase revenues, drive stickiness and to attract advertisers.

3. Companies will Increase Focus on Analytics
Financial stress across industries will force companies to spend their money more efficiently. Marketers will want to ensure the highest ROI not only on the Internet spend but will commence measuring the effectiveness of Internet versus other mediums.

4. Lack of Financing for New Projects
While new Internet projects will continue to dry-up, we will also see the disappearance of a wide range of companies, which are not cash positive. On the other hand, lower growth rates will force cash-flow rich companies to look for potential acquisitions at bargain prices

5. e-Commerce will Gain Share
Cash-strapped and nervous consumers will become more price conscious and will use the Internet for the best available deals. Both e-commerce companies and online classifieds stand to gain from the current economic trends.

6. Crowdsourcing will Increase in Europe
We will see continued growth European copycat versions of successful American crowdsourcing models. The copycats will pop up at the national levels, i.e. in Germany, France, Spain, etc. At the same time, established companies will continue to leverage croudsourcing to strengthen their current business models and to develop new ones.

7. Google Will Start Facing Dissent from Technology Trendsetters and Partners
Google’s success is rapidly becoming its biggest enemy. Now operating at monopoly levels, with over 85% - 90%+ market share in countries like the UK, Spain, Germany, etc, Google is fast becoming the most despised company, amidst its advertisers, publishers and even its users. The current economy will force Google to cut costs and look across other revenue sources, which will make it further unpopular amongst all types of it users. 2009 may be the year when alternatives, like Live Search and even some newcomers gain some market share versus Google.