Internet Ad Revenues at $14.9 Billion in First Half 2011, Up by 23%

Strong online advertising growth has continued into the first half of 2011, rising 23.2 percent to $14.9 billion.

Figures released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC US) showed that the growth more than doubled year-over-year. Last year’s first half ad revenues of $12.1 billion represented an 11.3 percent increase as against 2009.

This year’s second quarter alone broke the record as it increased by 24.1 percent to $7.7 billion as compared to last year’s $6.2 billion.

Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of IAB, explained the confidence of marketers despite the weak economy:

“The remarkably resilient performance of interactive advertising so far in 2011 demonstrates that more marketers are placing big bets on digital to tell their brand stories. This welcome news, in light of the weakness in a large part of the rest of the U.S. economy, confirms that the innovations happening in interactive marketing deliver great value to the industry and to the consumer.”

Banner ads, rich media, digital video and sponsorships (classified as display advertising) totaled more than $5.5 billion during the first two quarters of the year, representing a 27.1 percent increase over the same period last year. Digital video during the first half of this year grew by double digit, up 42.1 percent over a year ago as it close near the $1 billion mark with $891 million.

Display advertising accounted for 37 percent of all advertising expenditures for the first half of 2011. Search remained the leading online category at 49 percent. Both display and search grew by about 27 percent as compared to last year’s 11.6 percent.

So what is really happening? We have an economy that is faltering on one side and strong online advertising growth on the other end.