from San Francisco Chronicle: Five years after the dot-com bubble burst, Internet advertising is finally delivering on its promise.
A passel of industry and analyst reports tell of a very strong 2004 and an even better 2005 for online ad spending. It’s still a tiny portion of the entire advertising-dollar pie, estimated to be $12.3 billion of $256 billion in total spending by one account, but the talk is it’s only going north.
Online advertising’s strong suit is a better sense of accountability, the watchword of the day for marketers, who say they can learn in real time whether a message or interactive elements are effective. Basically, advertisers can see whether someone clicked on an ad and bought something.
Online Ad Spending
1996 $267 million
1997 $907 million
1998 $1.9 billion
1999 $4.6 billion
2000 $8.1 billion
2001 $7.1 billion
2002 $6 billion
2003 $7.2 billion
2004 $12.3 billion
Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau