Begun in 1996, the bi-annual IAB report contains full- and half-year data, with top-line estimates for the first and third quarters, compiled from data reported by companies selling Internet advertising. The data includes ad revenues from websites, online services, free email providers and other companies that sell online ads.
The report, prepared for the Interactive Advertising Bureau by global market analysts PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, shows a 3 percent increase over second quarter advertising sales — the previous record-setting quarter — and a total of $15.2 billion in ad sales for the first three quarters of 2007, a 26 percent increase over the $12.1 billion seen during the same period in 2006.
"The continued robust growth of the industry indicates that marketers increasingly understand and appreciate the benefits of interactive advertising," IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg said. "Marketers large and small have come to accept digital media as the fulcrum of any marketing strategy."
"Internet advertising revenues are on an annual run-rate exceeding $20 billion, further demonstrating the industry has truly come into its own," Pricewaterhouse's Peter Petrusky said. "The emergence of new platforms, including broadband video, rich Internet applications, mobile and social media promise to deliver new benefits for consumers and create exciting new venues for marketers to realize value in digital media."
"The results of the survey continue to underscore the value that interactive advertising brings to the marketplace, as marketers and agencies build on established guidelines and best practices to control costs and maximize returns from their growing interactive budgets," Pricewaterhouse's David Silverman said.
Industry trade group IAB represents more than 300 leading interactive companies that are responsible for selling over 86 percent of online advertising in the U.S.