Many agencies and leading researchers, eMarketer included, consider the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) numbers to be the benchmarks for Internet advertising. The latest data show that online advertising is doing better than ever.
According to the latest figures from IAB and PwC, total online advertising revenues in the US came to $12.5 billion for 2005, a new annual record and exceeding the 2004 total by 30%.
In the fourth quarter alone online advertising revenues totaled a record $3.6 billion, representing a 34% increase over same period in 2004.
Is the news too good? Is growth like this just froth, a sign of another bubble? IAB and PwC do not think so.
"Interactive Advertising continues to experience tremendous growth as marketers experience its overall effectiveness in building brands and delivering online and offline sales," said Greg Stuart, IAB CEO. "We are confident that this growth trend will continue as more marketers find Interactive to be an imperative and additional platforms including broadband video, gaming, iPTV and others continue to emerge as real opportunities."
"Continued strong growth in online advertising documents that an increasing number of advertisers and marketers see the Internet is an essential brand-building component in their media planning," added Peter Petrusky of PwC. "The Internet delivers the right audience at the right time — a winning combination for all types of marketers. We expect to see continued growth in Internet advertising spend."
Search continued its dominance in 2005, accounting for 41% of all online advertising, up from 39% in 2004.
Not surprisingly, CPM, or charging per impression, was the leading pricing model, accounting for 46% of the total, up from 42% last year.
For the latest on online advertising tactics and techniques, read the eMarketer report, Online Ad Targeting: Engaging the Audience.