Total U.S. Internet advertising revenue last year totaled $8.2 billion, with the fourth quarter of 2000 ringing up $2.2 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Internet Ad Revenue Report .
But while the $2.2 billion shows an increase of 9% over the $1.9 billion for the third quarter of 2000, the percentage increase is markedly lower than historical levels, and is reflective of the overall slowdown in ad revenue across all media sectors.
The report found that revenue generated from banner ads has decreased considerably in the fourth quarter, accounting for 40% of the quarter’s online ad revenue, down from 46% in the third quarter and 47% for the year. E-mail accounted for 4% (3% for the year) while rich media garnered 2% (2% for the year).
“The turbulence that has affected all advertising sectors in the past six months has also quite naturally impacted the Internet,” Robin Webster, CEO of the IAB said in a statement. “While we have continued to grow as an industry, that growth has been tempered by the times, and I would expect that we will see this reflected in future reports.”
According to the report the categories which lead online spending during the fourth quarter of 2000 were:
* Consumer-related (32%) – year 2000 (31%)
* Computing (21%) – year 2000 (18%)
* Financial Services (13%), – year 2000 (14%)
* Business Services (6%), – year 2000 (9%)
* Media (9%) – year 2000 (8%)
The report also found that in the fourth quarter the vast majority of revenue transactions, 92%, (93% for the year) continue to be cash-based with barter/trade and packaged deals accounting for 7%, (6% for the year) and 1% (1% for the year) of total revenues respectively.
The report is conducted independently by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
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