Internet advertising reaches $9.6 billion

According to an industry survey sponsored by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, advertising revenues (“revenues”) in the United States totaled over $9.6 billion for the full year 2004, with Q3 accounting for $2.3 billion and Q4 totaling nearly $2.7 billion. Internet advertising revenues for the full year of 2004 increased nearly 33 percent over 2003,and exceeded the previous annual revenue record of $8.1 billion in 2000 by 19 percent.

Consumer advertisers continue to lead all industry categories, accounting for 49 percent of 2004 revenues,up sharply from the 37 percent reported for the same period in 2003. Computing advertisers accounted for 18 percent of 2004 revenues, followed by Financial Services at 17 percent, Telecommunications at 4 percent and Pharmaceutical & Healthcare at 6 percent of 2004 revenues.

Search revenues increased over 50 percent on a dollar basis from2003 ($2.5 billion) to 2004 ($3.9 billion), but remained constant at 40 percent of total revenues during the fourth quarter of both 2004 and 2003.

On a combined basis, display and sponsorship advertising revenues totaled $2.6 billion in 2004, up $346 million or 15 percent from the 2003 total of $2.3 billion.
   
Classifieds advertising revenue totaled approximately $1.7 billion in 2004, up $498 million or 40 percent from the 2003 total of $1.2 billion.

Rich media advertising revenues totaled $963 million in 2004, up$236 million or 32 percent from the 2003 total of $727 million.
   
Referrals, slotting fees and email round out the categories, totaling a combined $480 million in 2004, down from the $509 million reported in 2003.

A copy of the full report is available for download