Marketers must eyeball $50m blogosphere

Big companies' ad buyers are warming to the likes of blogs, RSS and podcasts almost as much as early adopters - but analysts have warned that marketers need to approach this typically user-generated content with care.

According to researchers at PQ Media, advertising spending on blogs, RSS and podcasts will reach nearly $50m this year.

User-generated content is still in its infancy, however, and as it matures it is predicted to steal more than $750m of advertising cash by 2010.

Analyst house JupiterResearch has counselled marketing professionals to keep their eye on blogs, where opinions that can harm brands can be easily and quickly circulated.

According to JupiterResearch, because so few of us actually make our opinions known online, those who do - typically young men - are exerting a disproportionate influence across the blogosphere.

Around 23 per cent of Europeans will make their opinions known online when prompted, such as responding to polls, the analyst house said. It also advised businesses to use 'buzz monitoring tools' to see how widely the thoughts of disgruntled customers can spread.