The Internet Advertising Bureau said its
figures show that ad revenues more than doubled in 1998, reaching an
estimated $1.92 billion.
“It is easy for us to forget that the Internet, as a viable advertising
medium, is barely four years old, and it is astounding that in such a
relatively short period of time, its growth is now measured in billions of
dollars,” said IAB Chairman Rich LeFurgy.
The IAB said the 1998 Internet ad figure surpasses the estimated $1.58
billion spent last year on outdoor advertising. 1998 online advertising
revenue grew by 112 percent from $906.5 million for 1997.
Fourth quarter 1998 revenues increased $165 million (34%) over the same
quarter for 1997, to $655.6 million, the 12th consecutive record-setting
quarter for the industry.
“It is significant to note that Internet advertising has not reached a
plateau, and with online ad budgets increasing for current advertisers, and
the growing number of large traditional advertisers who are migrating their
advertising to the Internet, we
look forward to a sustained period of growth in the years ahead,” LeFurgy
said.
According to the report, which is conducted independently by the New Media
Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers for the IAB,
leading ad categories during the fourth quarter were consumer-related (29%),
computing (20%), financial services (19%), telecom (8%) and new media (7%).
Banner advertisements continue to be reported as the predominant type of
advertising, accounting for 56%, with sponsorships (30%), interstitials (5%),
e-mail (1%) and other (8%) rounding out the category. Reflecting the
continuing growth of e-commerce, hybrid deals accounted for 54% of revenue
transactions. with CPMs or impression-based
deals at 40% and performance-based deals at 6% of revenues.
“Strong revenue growth led by consumer advertisers, and coupled with
seasonality similar to traditional advertising, suggests the Internet is
increasingly being factored into advertising budgets, and that the
fundamentals are in place for continued industry growth,” said Tom Hyland,
Partner and New Media Group Chairman at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The IAB report, which represents data from more than 200 companies
representing over 1, 200 Web sites, includes online advertising revenue
data from Web sites, commercial online services, free e-mail providers and other companies selling online advertising.
