Internet advertising increased 85.9 percent in 1999 to $1.9 billion from $1.1 billion in 1998, according to the latest findings released by CRMinteractive, a division of Competitive Media Reporting, New York.
As a result of this increase, Internet spending made up 2.1 percent of the $89.2 billion spent on advertising last year.
Online and computer-related companies spent the most, $663 million — Microsoft lead the pack with $36.2 million in advertising, followed by e-commerce companies, $278.4 million, and financial companies, $191.7 million.
The biggest nontech spender was General Motors, which spent $21.4 million online last year.
