In the first quarter of 2009, Internet advertising dropped 5%, to $5.5 billion, when compared to the same quarter last year, according to the Internet Advertising Revenue Report commissioned by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and conducted by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A spokesman for the IAB attributed the drop in spending to the recession. “It’s a really tough economic climate, and in a lot of key categories, marketers are retrenching and spending drastically less,” said Joe Laszlo, director of research at the IAB. “The Internet is not immune to that.”
While there has been a drop in overall spending, many marketers have been shifting budgets online. “The value of advertising on the Internet means that it is standing up well to the conditions,” added Laszlo. “The fact that the Internet provides a wide array of different metrics that an advertiser can measure is great. It is also a very flexible channel.”
Laszlo said the he remains optimistic about the channel, as it has a number of facets that continue to grow such as social media advertising and online video.
