US Internet advertising revenues hit $5.9 billion in the first quarter of 2010, a 7.5% year-over-year increase and an all-time high for the period, according to a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB, attributed this growth to marketer confidence in interactive channels.
For full-year 2009, online advertising revenues dipped 3.4% from the prior year to $22.7 billion.
In response to the IAB’s report, digital intelligence firm eMarketer revised its US online advertising spending estimate for 2010. EMarketer previously predicted that online advertising spending in the US would reach $23.6 billion, an increase of 5.5% from last year. The firm now forecasts online ad spending for 2010 will hit $25.1 billion, a 10.8% growth rate from 2009.
David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer, said continuing economic instability is driving money online because of its measurability and its low cost.
Banner ad spending and search marketing both fared better than eMarketer previously predicted. In Q1, Google’s net US ad revenues improved by 21%. EMarketer predicts that Google will account for 38.5% of all US online ad revenue this year.
Microsoft’s net US online advertising revenues went up 15.6% in Q1. EMarketer predicts that Microsoft will account for 4.9% of all US online ad spending.
