Chris Reitermann, President of OgilvyOne in China – Ogilvy’s direct response and digital advertising agency, discusses China’s online adspend and what media companies can do to grab a slice of the action. Although Chris – disclosure alert – is a colleague at Ogilvy, this is entirely independent of Ogilvy. Interview by Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei and shot and edited by Eric Mu.

Miles Young, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide added a few more numbers by email:

Overall, Ogilvy’s revenues from Digital are growing.

Digital business accounts for around 90% of OgilvyOne China’s revenues. Globally, digital accounts for around 60% of OgilvyOne revenues and 25% of O&M WW revenues.

Digital remains the most robust sector of the marketing communications pie, with search, mobile and video being strong performers globally. However, even digital is not immune from the effects of the global recession. In the first half of 2009, online display advertising revenue in the US was down 1% on the previous year, although this pales in comparison to the drop in all media which reached 15% over the same period. (Source: Nielsen)