According to figures released yesterday by comScore, social network sites like Twitter and Facebook were responsible for hosting 13.8 billion online adverts during August 2009 - nabbing them over 25% of the market for online display advertising.
Interestingly, the most prolific social network advertisers were companies that operate in the cut-throat telecommunications market, including Telefonica O2, Deutsche Telekom and BT. Corporations in this sector were responsible for 949 million display ad impressions, or 7% of the market.
Other heavy advertisers included the retail, banking, travel and entertainment sectors, supporting the evidence that social networks are attracting older audiences. That said, whilst adverts aimed at teens only racked up the tenth highest number of impressions, the sector put 37.3% of its ads on social networking sites - compared to 27.1 for the telecommunications sector.
Commenting on the findings, Mike Read, the managing director for comScore Europe, said: "Given the overall reach and volume of ads delivered on social networking sites, brand advertisers who ignore this channel may be missing a significant opportunity and enabling their competitors to gain a dominant share".
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