Online revenue continues ‘unabated growth’

The IAB released new online advertising numbers for 2007 that show a 25 percent growth over the year before. In the fourth quarter alone, revenues totaled $5.9 billion, a 13 percent increase over the third quarter. “The record $21.1 billion year of interactive advertising is the culmination of consecutive record quarters throughout 2007,” said David Silverman, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “The continued record growth evidences the importance and uniqueness of interactive media to both consumers and the marketers that are trying to reach them.” Press release…

NEW YORK, NY (February 25, 2008) — The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues for 2007 are estimated to grow to $21.1 billion, a 25 percent increase over the previous revenue record of nearly $16.9 billion for full year 2006. Q4 2007 revenues totaled approximately $5.9 billion, making it the highest quarter ever reported and representing a 13 percent rise over the third quarter of 2007 and a 24 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2006. All four quarters reported in 2007 include record level revenues.

“Interactive media continue their unabated growth,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “There is no media as measurable as interactive, and they provide products and services at the precise moment a consumer desires them. I applaud the industry on maintaining this extraordinary momentum of innovation, which has fundamentally changed the way we live today.”

“The record $21.1 billion year of interactive advertising is the culmination of consecutive record quarters throughout 2007,”said David Silverman, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “The continued record growth evidences the importance and uniqueness of interactive media to both consumers and the marketers that are trying to reach them.”

The IAB sponsors the Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which is conducted independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The full report is issued twice yearly for full and half-year data, and top-line quarterly estimates are issued for the first, third and fourth quarters. Fourth quarter and full-year online ad revenue estimates result from surveying and aggregating data from the top 15 online ad sellers, and then extrapolating those to calculate the total estimated industry revenue figure.

Actual third and fourth-quarter results will be reported in the full 2007 Internet Advertising Revenue Report, expected in May 2008. PwC does not audit the information and provides no opinion or other form of assurance with respect to the information.