Social networks take a big percentage of advertising

Nearly one in five ads on the Internet in the United States are in a social networking site like MySpace and Facebook, according to a new report.

The study of the company comScore statistics underscores the growing presence of social media on the Internet landscape and the increased acceptance of these pages by advertisers.

It also shows the increasing competition between these sites and established firms of the network as Yahoo and AOL, owned by Time Warner, who boast a long time to be the first destinations for large advertisers online.

The comScore study, released Tuesday, said that in July, the social networking sites in the U.S. accounted for 21.1 percent of the ads on the Web, MySpace and Facebook covering more than 80 percent of ads.

"Since the big social networking sites can offer great scope and frequency of individual segments at low price, it seems that some advertisers are willing to use social networking sites as a new advertising vehicle," said Jeff Hackett, senior vice president comScore.

According to comScore, in July AT & T, Experian Interactive and Ask Network, IAC / Interactive, were the three largest advertisers on social networks.

Although these pages have enjoyed rapid popularity in recent years, Facebook is now the fourth most visited page on the web - some observers have questioned whether they can give money effectively.

As its content is created by users, and therefore can be off-color or offensive, some have questioned the willingness of companies to put their mark next to that content.

"They are sensitive to some extent, but not to the extent you might think," said advertisers Sanford Bernstein analyst KJeff Lindsay.

The price for placing ads on social networks is significantly lower than that of a portal like Yahoo or AOL, he said. The vast number of pages available in these communities means that advertisers can buy a lot and negotiate a price.

The strategy may not be ideal for smaller companies or those seeking a direct answer, said Lindsay.

"For large companies and national works well, like TV," he said. "It's a huge game, huge volume," he said.

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