Internet Ad Revenues Rocket

US Internet advertising revenues for the first six months of 2006 were approximately $7.9bn, a dramatic 37% increase over the same period in 2005, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The Q2 total Internet was nearly $4.1bn, 36% up on a year earlier and a 5.5% increase over Q1 2006. The report was released yesterday at the MIXX Conference in New York.

According to Greg Stuart, outgoing CEO of the IAB, 'Interactive delivers an arsenal of options for advertisers no matter their marketing and business objectives. From search, broadband, lead generation, behavioral targeting, consumer generated content and new emerging platforms like mobile and iPTV, Interactive continues to solidify its position as a mainstream medium.' David Silverman, a Partner in PwC's Entertainment & Media Practice, says the figures show major advertisers integrating online advertising into their overall media plans, and the growth of new technologies. 'While search advertising remains the largest format in terms of revenues, we expect to see new formats like video ads to continue to emerge as advertisers seek to leverage the branding opportunities afforded by the growing installed base of broadband users.'

Share for the different ad formats is as follows – values are in millions of $US.

[table 1]

In terms of pricing models, performance deals have grown at the expense of hybrid, and if current trends continue will overtake CPM as the number one model very shortly.

[table 2]

Conducted by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers and sponsored by the IAB, the Advertising Revenue Report was started in 1996, and represents data from 'all [US] companies that report meaningful online advertising revenues'. This includes web sites, commercial online services, free e-mail providers and others. The full report is issued twice yearly for full and half-year data, and top-line quarterly figures are issued for the first and third quarters.

Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) represents over 250 leading interactive companies that are actively engaged in, and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the USA. The IAB is online at www.iab.net and PricewaterhouseCoopers at www.pwc.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.