US Internet Advertising Revenue Sees Record Earnings This Quarter

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has just released numbers showing that internet advertising revenues in the US are showing the highest first quarter revenue level for the industry in history. The revenues were $5.9 billion for the first quarter of 2010, representing a 7.5 percent increase from the same period the year before.  But let’s not get too excited. The numbers were still far lower than the fourth quarter of 2009, when internet advertising revenues hit as high as $6.3 billion. Of course, this accounts for holiday spending, which always brings fourth quarter revenues higher.  This rise in revenue is, of course, excellent news for the online media industry, who were no doubt panicking about the state of the economy and the resulting slump in online ad revenue they witnessed over 2008 and 2009. The recession seems to be coming to an end.  The combined advertising revenue of the fourth largest online companies, Google, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft, jumped a huge 15 percent in the first quarter, to $8.8 billion. AOL was, not surprisingly, the weakest link in this group, experiencing a decline in ad revenues, but the other three more than made up for it (Google with a huge 21.5 percent increase, Microsoft with 8.8 percent, and Yahoo with three percent).

Read More: ISEDB.com

Online Ad Investments Spike, Targeting, RTB, and Self-Serve Attract Dollars

Millions of dollars flowing into companies supporting online advertising through mergers and acquisitions, along with venture capital funding, signals a recovering industry. The businesses receiving the dough during the past six months support mobile advertising, audience targeting, real-time bidding, and self-service display ad platforms.  The investments also point to emerging trends in these spaces, along with those willing to educate advertisers and publishers on Internet and security risks. That’s according to the 2010 Online Advertising Market Report “Emerging Q1: Trends & Outlooks,” released Thursday.  Despite seasonal spending declines, The Rubicon Project 20 Index rose 25% in Q1 2010, compared with the year-ago quarter. As the quarter progressed, money began to follow more freely, yet strategically. March, on average, rose 38% higher compared with January.

Read More: MediaPost