The first half of 2006 was a record-breaker in terms of online advertising money, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The IAB and PwC reported the numbers yesterday from the MIXX Conference and Expo. Internet advertising revenues for the US were approximately $7.9 billion, a new record and a 37% increase over the first half of 2005.
In the second quarter alone, revenues totaled nearly $4.1 billion, representing a 36% increase over same period 2005, and a 5.5% increase over Q1 2006.
Greg Stuart, CEO of IAB, indicated that interactive Internet capabilities were becoming crucial in the marketing world as businesses look to maximize search, broadband, lead generation, behavioral targeting, consumer-generated content and, eventually, mobile and iPTV.
“The latest results reaffirm the Internet’s growing importance for marketers to integrate online advertising into their overall media plans,” said PwC’s David Silverman.
“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.”
“Internet advertising continues to reach new milestones, exceeding $4 billion in quarterly revenues for the first time, and on pace for another record year of revenues,” said Pete Petrusky of PwC.
“With the seventh consecutive quarter of growth behind us we are confident that the Internet will continue to reconcile the imbalances between its share of media consumption versus its relative share of total advertising spend.”
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