Overall, October’s ad spending was the highest since April, with an increase of almost 6.5 percent over September. October also marked the third-highest spending on advertising this year, falling about $85 million short of the year’s high point, set in January at $826 million.
Technology companies continued to spend the most on Internet advertising, clocking in at around $187 million, with business and retail picking up second and third place at $90 million and $87 million.
Down from its September position of second place was the finance category, now ranked fourth with $79.7 million.
Total impressions for October ranked fourth out of the year at 65 million, following January at 76 million, April at 71 million and March at 66 million.
Statistics released for the period beginning Nov. 18 and ending Dec. 1 indicate that the total advertising expenditures reached $461.5 million, a 24.5 percent increase over October’s spending pace.
The total online ad spending for the first 10 months of 2004 was around $7 billion.