According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC US), internet ad revenues rose 23.2%—a record $14.9 billion—in the first half of the year. The rate of growth more than doubled YoY, as last year’s first-half ad revenues of $12.1 billion had represented an 11.3% increase over 2009. IAB says that the increase in revenue from advertising is a result of marketers taking more bets on digital to tell their brand stories.
Internet ad revenues for the second quarter alone also reached new heights, increasing 24.1% to $7.7 billion. That performance compares to last year’s same-period revenues of $6.2 billion, up 13.9% from 2009.
Display-related advertising—banner ads, rich media, digital video and sponsorships—totaled more than $5.5 billion in the first six months of 2011. Display increased 27.1% over the same period in 2010, substantially exceeding the previous year’s growth rate of 16%. Digital video once again commanded double-digit growth—up 42.1% over a year ago, and moved close to the $1 billion mark with $891 million in half year 2011 revenue.
Display accounted for 37% of all interactive spend in the first half of 2011, with search remaining the leading online category at 49% of the total—nearly $7.3 billion. Search and Display each grew about 27% YoY, with Search more than doubling its previous year’s growth rate of 11.6%.
In other online ad formats, dollars spent on lead generation increased 25.4% over the same period in 2010, but classified ad dollars were down 2% and email spend decreased 34.2%.
IAB also took a look at spend by specific revenue models supporting online ads. For example, ads using performance-based models increased faster than ads using impression-based models, rising to $9.6 billion. Impression-based ad spend did grow by 10.8%, though that pricing model accounted for only 31% of total ads, down from 35% YoY.
Half-year Internet ad revenue since the IAB began measurements in 1996:
| Year |
% Growth | |
| HY 11 | $14,941 | 23% |
| HY 10 | $12,127 | 11% |
| HY 09 | $10,900 | -5% |
| HY 08 | $11,510 | 15% |
| HY 07 | $9,993 | 26% |
| HY 06 | $7,909 | 37% |
| HY 05 | $5,787 | 26% |
| HY 04 | $4,599 | 40% |
| HY 03 | $3,292 | 11% |
| HY 02 | $2,978 | -20% |
| HY 01* | $3,720 | -7% |
| HY 00* | $4,013 | 147% |
| HY 99 | $1,627 | 110% |
| HY 98 | $774 | 125% |
| HY 97 | $344 | 320% |
| HY 96 | $82 | |
|
|
||
| Total | $94,596 |
Ad Category Breakouts (in millions)
| HY 2011 |
HY 2010 |
|
| Search | 49% ($7,286) | 47% ($5,747) |
| Display Related: | 37% ($5,535) | 36% ($4,356) |
| -Banner Ads | 23% ($3,414) | 23% ($2,744) |
| -Digital Video | 6% ($891) | 5% ($627) |
| -Rich Media | 5% ($763) | 6% ($743) |
| -Sponsorship | 3% ($467) | 2% ($242) |
| Classifieds | 8% ($1,237) | 10% ($1,262) |
| Referrals/Lead Generation | 5% ($805) | 5% ($642) |
| 1% ($79) | 1% ($120) |
Revenue Pricing Models (in millions)
| HY 2011 |
HY 2010 |
|
| Performance-Based | 64% ($9,588) | 61% ($7,410) |
| Impression-Based | 31% ($4,668) | 35% ($4,213) |
| Hybrid | 5% ($686) | 4% ($505) |
