For the first time in nearly three years, online advertising, which includes pay-for-placement search engine advertising, increased quarter-to-quarter, says the new Internet Ad Revenue Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Internet advertising revenue in the U.S. reached $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2002, increasing over 2% from the third quarter. The growth is the first consecutive quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2000, the Internet Ad Revenue Report says. While that figure was a decline from Q4 of the prior year, the two groups reported that it is the first time the decline did not hit double digits since Q1 of 2001.
Internet advertising for full-year 2002 totaled $5.95 billion, 17% below 2001.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau and the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers base their results on compiling data from the top 15 online ad sellers, which account for over 80% of industry revenues.
"The improved performance over the past two quarters reflects a stabilizing online advertising market, highlighted by continued strength in paid-for-search results. The recent upturn, coupled with forecasts of continued expansion of broadband distribution, bodes well for a strong year in 2003," said Tom Hyland, chair, PricewaterhouseCoopers New Media Group.
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