Schönenberger finds Swiss internet advertising too hesitant
Andreas Schönenberger, head of Google Switzerland, sees Switzerland as lagging behind when it comes to online advertising. Meanwhile, Google is strengthening its position internationally in the battle against the social networking site Facebook.
Google Switzerland boss Andreas Schönenberger sees Switzerland as a laggard when it comes to online advertising: "As far as the online advertising market is concerned, Switzerland is lagging behind other countries," he told the NZZ am Sonntag. According to Media Focus, 52 million francs flowed into the Internet last year, which corresponds to 1.4 percent of total advertising investment. Google currently estimates the share at 2 percent. "Swiss companies and advertising agencies in Switzerland have been very hesitant in the past and have not fully exploited the potential of the internet as an advertising medium," explains Schönenberger. In Germany, around 8 percent of advertising expenditure went to online channels, in the UK it was as high as 15 percent. However, Google is missing from the statistics: Schönenberger did not reveal how much turnover the Internet giant generates. He simply commented on speculation about the growth rate with the following words: "If Google Switzerland closes 2007 with double-digit percentage growth in turnover, I will be very satisfied". Meanwhile, Google is strengthening itself internationally for the battle against the community site Facebook. Google has formed an alliance with a number of other social network platforms: The companies presented the joint standard interface OpenSocial, through which they want to open up the networks to each other and to external developers.
Google pulled off a surprise coup: the company from Mountain View in California also brought the world's largest online network MySpace on board. Together, the networks want to defy their competitor Facebook, which is currently growing rapidly. In addition to Google's own Orkut, the websites LinkedIn, Hi5, Friendster, Plaxo, the German market leader Xing and the software company Oracle are also taking part in the initiative. According to press reports, these networks alone have a combined total of around 100 million users. MySpace is likely to contribute a further 180 million members.
Google pulled off a surprise coup: the company from Mountain View in California also brought the world's largest online network MySpace on board. Together, the networks want to defy their competitor Facebook, which is currently growing rapidly. In addition to Google's own Orkut, the websites LinkedIn, Hi5, Friendster, Plaxo, the German market leader Xing and the software company Oracle are also taking part in the initiative. According to press reports, these networks alone have a combined total of around 100 million users. MySpace is likely to contribute a further 180 million members.
