Bureau of Meteorology switches on online ads

The Bureau of Meteorology will be the first federal government agency to accept commercial advertising on its website starting this week.

This follows the federal government’s announcement of a one-year online advertising trial as part of the 2012-13 budget.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s website is one of the most popular in Australia with 64 million unique visitors and 32.65 billion hits annually.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Vicki Middleton, chief operating officer at the Bureau of Meteorology said last year’s “Munro Review” of the Bureau’s capacity to respond to future extreme weather and natural disaster events had identified that demand for the Bureau’s services continues to grow.

“The commercial advertising trial is a potential revenues stream to assist the Bureau in meeting increasing demand for essential frontline services and flood forecasting systems,” Middleton said.

“Many commercial entities and media organisations use Bureau data in the delivery of weather information and generate revenue from these activities. It makes sense for the scientific body responsible for this data to benefit directly.”

Middleton pointed out that meteorological service providers overseas – including the UK Met Office – carry advertising on their websites.

Digital Network Sales – a subsidiary of PermissionCorp – is managing Web advertising sales for the Bureau.