Internet Advertising Revenues Surpass $23 Billion in ?08, Reaching Record High
The terms “Integrated Marketing Plan” and Interactive Marketing are getting a bit closer together. With the down-turn in the economy and the fact that many brands are turning to the web to reach their target demographic, is this any surprise? Search Engine Optimization lead the way with 45% of the spending. Display Ads came in second with 33% of the spend.
Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. remain strong, topping $23 billion, according to the 2008 Internet Advertising Revenue Report, released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). Despite a difficult U.S. economy, interactive advertising?s continued growth, albeit at a slower pace, confirms marketers’ increased recognition of the medium?s value in reaching consumers online where they are spending more and more of their time.
Search remains the main driver of revenue growth according to the report, showing a 19.8% increase over 2007. Digital video, though still a small overall contributor, more than doubled its revenue with an increase to $734 million from $324 million in 2007, demonstrating how both marketers and consumers are embracing this dynamic platform.
As in 2007, retail, financial services, computing and automotive remained the four largest verticals among Internet advertisers in 2008. Consumer packaged goods, an industry vertical historically slow to embrace interactive advertising, notably increased its share of total Internet ad revenues by 60 percent over 2007. The Internet is now the third largest ad-supported medium, marking its increasing significance to marketers and consumers.
Conducted by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the Internet Advertising Revenue Report was launched in 1996 by the IAB, and aggregates data from all companies that report meaningful online advertising revenues. The results are considered the most accurate measurement of interactive advertising revenues with the data compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from Web sites, commercial online services, ad networks, free e-mail providers, and all other companies selling online advertising. First and third quarter revenue reports are estimates, with the actual figures being released along with second and fourth quarter data respectively. PwC does not audit the information and provides no opinion or other form of assurance with respect to the information.
Great news for any firm in the web design industry. Even better news for full service interactive marketing firms like DoubleDome.
