The power of internet advertising is finally beginning to click with Irish agencies, its increasing stature clearly illustrated in the findings of the latest report from the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI).

According to the IAPI Base report for the first six months this year, internet advertising spend came in at €5.9m. This was the first time that it has been included in the survey, which placed it 20% ahead of cinema in the rankings.

Though it was overtaken by internet advertising, cinema had a good half-year also, with revenues up 24.7% to €4.9m. This is mainly due to the opening of new cinemas, and the success of blockbusters such as The Da Vinci Code and The Wind that Shakes the Barley, agencies said.

Overall, advertising expenditure increased by 11.6% to €812m.

Print revenues were the highest at €532m, a rise of 9.7% on the same period in 2005. This was the smallest percentage increase recorded among the six categories.

IAPI changed its reporting methodology to include satellite television stations — Sky, Setanta, E4, MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount — now selling ads here. These stations helped push up television revenue by 12.6% to €146m.

Raising cheers for Leinster

The boys over at Leinster rugby, perhaps smarting at the barrage of fairweather fans jibes from the more gregarious Munster supporters, are shelling out €200,000 on a new advertising campaign to rally the troops for the season ahead.

Leinster have retained AFA O’Meara to implement the campaign, which has a theme entitled Roar on the Lions and will feature outdoor advertising and below-the-line activity in schools and on match days in Dublin, kicking off with next week’s Leinster versus London Irish friendly.

Leinster have already sold 3,500 season tickets and, buoyed by last season’s success, when the team reached the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup and came second in the Celtic League, are hoping for bumper crowds this season at their home games in Donnybrook and the RDS.

Setanta takes soccer to US

The rise and rise of Setanta Sports in recent months continues unabated, with the Irish network inking a deal with Interactive Television Networks (ITVN), a Californian-based broadband TV company, to make its content available via the American operator’s set-top boxes. ITVN mainly targets European expatriates living in America.

Setanta, which launched its US operation last year, will beam up to 1,000 soccer and rugby matches into the homes of ITVN subscribers, including the Euro 2008 qualifiers, the Uefa Cup, the Coca-Cola Cup, the French and Dutch national leagues as well as some of rugby’s Six Nations and Tri-Nations games.

American audiences are increasingly tuning in to soccer, with viewing figures in the US for the 2006 World Cup in Germany up 65% on 2002 (although they won’t have been too pleased with the dismal performance of their national side). Rugby is also starting to gain a decent viewing audience across the Atlantic.

The ITVN broadcasts will use internet protocol televison (IPTV) instead of traditional transmission.