Tag Archives: bureau of meteorology

Bureau of Meteorology website open to advertising

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The Bureau of Meteorology will be the first Australian Government agency to carry advertising on its website, following a one year trial announced in the 2012 Federal Budget.

Digital Network Sales (DNS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of PermissionCorp, has been awarded a major contract to manage the online advertising for the Bureau of Meteorology, one of the most popular websites in Australia and the number one site for weather information, especially via mobile devices.

Bob Cheng, founder and managing director of PermissionCorp says of the decision: “We are honoured that the Bureau has awarded the tender to DNS to manage its online advertising. BOM is undoubtedly one of the most iconic, credible and widely-used sites in Australia. Our clients will now be able to reach a significant number of Australian consumers and businesses that use the site regularly,” he said in a statement.

The Bureau’s website is one of the most frequently visited sites in Australia, with 3.3 billion pageviews each year. At any one time there are around 25,000 unique users on the site, which spikes during severe weather.

Jeff Glazer, a director at PermissionCorp, says, “Since this is the very first Government Department to allow commercial online advertising, we believe advertisers will gain significant awareness. On average, BOM users spend around 16 minutes on site, offering advertisers a compelling opportunity to increase exposure.”

The integrity of the Bureau’s brand and reputation is paramount, says DNS. In preparation for this landmark decision to allow commercial advertising on this Australian Government website, an online advertising policy has been developed and reviewed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Australia to ensure that any advertising on the site meets high standards and user expectations.

 

Hitwise report says government site hits growing

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Hitwise has announced that government website visits were up 10.4% year-on-year in March 2009.

According to the company’s new ‘Online Government Report, this growth suggests that the community is finding online government services increasingly useful.

Australian visits to government websites also outstripped US and UK usage during the same time period.

However, government agencies need to ensure that the online delivery of their services is meeting the needs of the community, particularly as the internet becomes a primary point of contact between organisations and users.

One of the key findings from the report was that government agencies should benchmark their websites against similar departments and industry players. The Bureau of Meteorology was the leading government website nationally, with 44.8% share of visits, and was also the leading news and media website ahead of major publishers.

“As times get tough during the economic downturn, government will play an increasingly important role in providing vital services to the community. The effective delivery of these services through the online channel can result in cost-savings for government and potentially improve community well-being,” explained Hitwise senior analyst, Sandra Hanchard.

Other findings from the report included results showing Victorian bushfires searches dropped off four weeks after the crisis, and that SEO should be used by government websites to compete effectively with the commercial sector.

Also according to the report, social media can be used by government to connect with a broad spectrum of the community, as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia all ranked among the top websites visited by Australians in March.