Google Israel had a sales turnover of $100 million in 2008, half from ads targeting the domestic market.
Israeli advertisers spent $50 million on search-based advertising targeting the domestic market in Google Israel in 2008, according to figures obtained by “Globes”. An additional $50 million was spent on advertising targeting foreign markets.
The largest advertisers, targeting both domestic and foreign markets, included El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL), Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), and online translation dictionary developer Babylon Ltd. (TASE:BBYL).
Israel’s large advertisers have apparently begun to grasp the importance in using search-based advertising strategies, thanks in no small part to fieldwork by Google Israel in the past two years. In 2005, only 20% of advertising on Google Israel came from large advertisers, compared with 40% in 2008.
Cellular companies are also major advertisers on Google Israel, reportedly spending more than $2 million in search-based advertising targeting the domestic market. Google Israel declined to confirm these figuress.
Google Israel’s sales turnover, all of which comes from online advertising, totaled $100 million in 2008. Ifat Advanced Media Research and the Israel Marketing Association estimate Israel’s advertising market at $1 billion. Assuming that Ifat’s data is based only on the $50 million of domestic advertising on Google Israel, the company accounts for about 40% of the domestic online advertising market, which totals $120 million, or 12% of the total advertising market. Some market sources mention higher figures. They estimate the domestic banner advertising market at $90 million in 2008. If search-based advertising on Google Israel is added to this figure, domestic online advertising totals $140 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on January 26, 2009
Yoav