The eyes of the world may turn to Australia and the Sydney Olympic Games next month, but not the wallets of Web advertisers. Many Australian sites - even those relating to sport -- are being overlooked during the period of the games.
Internet research company www.consult has been monitoring online advertising at over 300 Web sites. "We haven't gauged any Olympic advertising activity," a www.consult spokesman said. "Rules about running Olympic content over the Internet are very strict," he added.
Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games said it "didn't know" how much Olympic advertising had been generated online. Because the rules about advertising campaigns vary from contract to contract, "it is hard to keep tabs on it," a SOCOG spokesperson said.
Australian sports site sportal.com.au said it hasn't been approached to run any Olympic advertising campaigns.
"The Olympic market is very skewed towards official [Olympic] sites which are getting the bulk of the advertising," sportal.com.au managing editor, Ashley Browne said.
With the Internet set to play such an unimportant role during the games, sportal.com.au said it is happy to take a backseat during the Olympics.
"We don't expect to be getting heaps of traffic during the Olympics anyway," the spokesperson said. "We'll be using the time to fine tune what we'll be doing after the Olympics.when traditional sports (such as soccer and cricket), resume their place in the pecking order."
Despite a huge international advertising campaign by official sponsor for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Visa, a spokesperson for the company said to her knowledge there was no Internet advertising involved.
Similarly, Westpac said: "We have no online Olympics advertising presence."
August 24, 2000
