It depends on who you are targeting.

South African marketers need to look at ways of making their online advertising more engaging to keep pace with a market where publishers are offering readers richer and more interactive content than they did in the past.

Local online publishers are going beyond static text and images to offer their readers rich media content and interactive functionality to draw them into their websites. From video streaming and downloads to blogging platforms, through to audio files and mobile alerts, local portals have added a wealth of new features and functions to their offerings over the past two to three years.

Take the online motoring media as one example. No longer do motoring sites merely post reviews with static images and text-based information after test driving cars - they also post short videos that allow the user to experience the vehicle as the writer did. This allows for a higher level of engagement and a better experience for the user.

These new features mean that consumers are increasingly interacting with media rather than merely consuming it. People are also spending more time online than ever. We're seeing this trend open up innovative new ways for advertisers to reach their customers.

The primary reason that consumers are spending more time online and that portals can offer richer content is the growing adoption of affordable, always-on broadband internet services in South Africa. The "Internet Access in SA 2007" study from World Wide Worx projects that there will be 650,000 unique broadband users in the country by the end of the year out of an expected online population of 3.85-million.

Growing adoption of broadband means that advertisers can also offer more engaging and interactive content to their audiences. Marketers are no longer limited to placements on a page, but can tap into the evolving platform in innovative ways.

What's stopping a camera manufacturer from sponsoring the video equipment used for a test drive, or a venue hosting test drives? This sponsorship can then be packaged in a way that brings the brand experience of the advertiser home to the consumer in an interesting way.

One increasingly popular option is for advertisers to make use of rich media in their campaigns. By most estimates, use of rich media ads worldwide has grown by 30 percent or more over the last three years. Rich media ranks alongside search as one of the fastest growing forms of online advertising in the world.

Local marketers are also beginning to appreciate just how effective rich media is in winning attention from users and drawing responses from the audience. Acceleration Media's experience is that rich media ads have a response rate that is up to five times better than standard ads. Rich media ads go beyond the traditional online ad formats of static banner images and animated gifs. They take advantage of more advanced presentation methods like Flash, Dynamic HTML and JavaScript, as well as audio and video.

The presentation is designed to create a more engaging and interactive experience for the user - content can be presented as a microsite in a banner, as a simple interactive game, and more. Furthermore, bandwidth targeting allows rich media ads to be aimed at broadband users and simpler standard ads at dial-up users, eliminating the danger of alienating dial-up users.

Advertisers should incorporate the trends taking place in the broader media landscape into their strategies to keep up with changing customer expectations. The simple banner ad still has its place, but can no longer be your only tool when interactive media has become such an integral part of your audience's online world.

*Acceleration Media is an online media strategy, planning and buying company that helps agencies and marketers maximise their use of the internet.

Ben Macklin, eMarketer senior analyst and author of a new report, Radio Trends, says that Internet radio, satellite radio, podcasting, high-definition radio and mobile audio services. His new study concludes that "Traditional radio is rapidly being subsumed into a new, broader sector called 'audio.'" The study, reported for EMarketer, shows that Online ad spending transitions through 2007 and 2008 to exceed that being spent on traditional radio.

The report cites Bridge Ratings, Arbitron and Edison Media Research in projecting the U.S, weekly radio audience to still be dominated by "Terrestial" radio, with a weekly audience of about 283 million Americans, almost ten times as many as listening to Internet radio.

And, according to Lumin Collaborative, cited in the study, traditional radio is losing its significance in people's lives. US adults are spending more time each day on the Internet and watching TV than listening to the radio, writes Macklin.

Macklin's conclusion for advertisers is "There are... many synergies between radio and the Internet, and for the most part they complement rather than compete with each other."

Most consumers - 62 percent - are viewing video online, and contrary to popular opinion those viewers are not just young adults viewing user-generated videos, according to a bi-annual video study from AOL's Advertising.com, which sought to analyze online video viewing and response to video advertising.

Most (69 percent) of those viewing videos are age 35 or older, with a preference for viewing news clips online, the study found.

"The internet is still seen first and foremost as an information resource. With news clips remaining the most popular type of streamed content, video viewing habits reflect that status," said Lynda Clarizio, president of Advertising.com.

"But it will be interesting to see how viewership evolves with the rise of social networks, more diverse video content, increased interactive gaming, and other such advances in online entertainment. I think we may see a shift in usage toward recreation; these latest figures certainly hint at that trend."

As for video advertisements, consumers accept them as part of the video experience - 94 percent of respondents prefer ads to subscription fees. However, 63 percent of respondents say shorter ads would make the online video experience more pleasurable.

Shorter spots also deliver higher percent-viewed rates, according to data from the Advertising.com network.

Other key findings from the study:

• More news, user-generated content:
  • In the first half of 2007, 62 percent of consumers viewed news clips online, followed by movie trailers with 38 percent.
  • Music videos came in third at 36 percent, decreasing from 47 percent in the second half of 2006.

• Tastes differ by age:
  • The 18-34-year-old audience prefers entertainment content such as music videos and TV shows. They also create more online video content than those ages 35 and older.
  • In contrast, the 35 and older audience is more likely to view news.
  • Compared with the previous study, 18-34-year-olds are streaming more movies, TV shows and user-generated videos.
  • Those 35 and older are streaming more sports clips and user-generated videos than previously reported.
• Complementing TV, not replacing it:

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  • 51 percent of survey respondents would watch a television episode online if they missed it on TV.
  • However, 80 percent of consumers say that online video usage does not cut into their TV time.