Web Ad Spending Sets Half-Year Record

Advertisers spent $12.1 billion on the Web during the first half of 2010, a record for a half-year period, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Spending climbed by 11.3 percent vs. the same period in 2009. That spree was fueled by a robust $6.2 billion in spending during Q2, marking the second-largest revenue quarter ever tracked by the IAB/PwC (roughly $6.3 billion was spent during Q4 of last year). The record-setting first half was also buoyed by a resurgent display market, which saw revenue surge by 16 percent to more than $4.4 billion. While display roared back to life, online video—one of the few bright spots during the recession—continues to grow at a blistering pace. According to the IAB/PwC report, ad spending on digital video enjoyed its best quarter ever, jumping 31 percent vs. the first half of '09. Still, digital video represented just 5 percent of online spending in Q2, according to the IAB/PwC. Despite the health exhibited by display and video, however, search still accounts for the largest chunk of online ad dollars: 47 percent during the first half of 2010, per the IAB/PwC. Search spending grew by 11.6 percent to more than $5.7 billion for the first six months of 2010.