Online Ad Revenue Up 23% In First Half of 2011

Internet advertising revenue hit a record $14.9 billion in the first half of the year, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ad revenue for the second quarter alone jumped 24.1% to $7.7 billion, compared to $6.2 billion during the same period a year ago.

Display advertising brought in more than $5.5 billion during the first half -- a 27.1% increase over the same period in 2010. Digital video also generated double-digit growth -- up 42.1% over a year ago, closing in on the $1 billion mark with $891 million in the first half.

Display accounted for 37% of the total digital ad spend in the first half of 2011, while search remained the leading online category at 49% of the total -- nearly $7.3 billion.

In other formats, classified ad dollars shrunk 2%, and e-mail decreased 34.2%.

"The remarkably resilient performance of interactive advertising so far in 2011 demonstrates that more marketers are placing big bets on digital to tell their brand stories," IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg said in a statement. "This welcome news, in light of the weakness in a large part of the rest of the U.S. economy, confirms that the innovations happening in interactive marketing deliver great value to the industry and to the consumer."

(Source: NetNewsCheck, 09/28/11)