December 10, 2003
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Sales from online advertising hit an estimated $1.75B (billion) in Q3, the fourth consecutive period of gains for the industry, according to new research.
By Stefanie Olsen
Q3 sales represent a 20% leap from revenue of $1.45B in the same period a year ago, and a 5% lift from sales of $1.66B in the previous three months, according to the trade group Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which sponsored the research, and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which conducted it.
The quarterly total was also the highest in two years, since Q3 of 2003 when the dot-com bubble started to deflate. Online advertising peaked in 2000 with $8B in revenue before falling to $7.1B in 2001, and $6B in 2002, according to IAB's numbers.
Sales for the first nine months of 2003 were an estimated $5.04B, up about 13% from the comparable period a year ago.
IAB CEO Greg Stuart said the growth speaks for itself. "Clearly, the Internet is proving itself a fertile marketplace, attracting advertisers and marketers across the board," Stuart said in a statement.
Much of the upturn has been attributed to search-engine-related marketing strategies: ads linked to keyword searches, or targeted ads generated when people enter queries. Google and Yahoo-owned Overture Services have been the main drivers of this growth, selling advertisers placement in search results relevant to their products and services. Marketers are clinging to this form of advertising because it lets them track the success of ads.
Sales from keyword searches increased to 31% of total ad revenue in Q2 of 2003, according to the IAB, which hasn't broken out such figures for Q3 yet.
The IAB and PwC's "Advertising Revenue Report" is issued quarterly, and Q3 data represents an aggregate estimate of sales from the top 15 online ad sellers. Actual Q3 results will be reported along with representative Q4 revenue in early 2004.
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