E-Media Reality Check - IAB Ad Rev Report -

IAB's Analysis on the first half of '09's Online Advertising:

Below is the Exec Summary from the full IAB report re: Key trends underlying 2009 year-to-date results

• Revenues Decreased 5.3% in first half of 2009 —Internet advertising revenue in the U.S. totaled $5.4 billion in the second quarter of 2009, a decrease of 0.7 percent from the 2009 first-quarter total of $5.5 billion, and an decrease of 5.4 percent from the 2008 second-quarter total of $5.7 billion.

• Year-to-date Internet advertising revenues through June 2009 totaled $10.9 billion, down 5.3 percent from the $11.5 billion reported for the same six-month period in 2008.

“We are in one of the most difficult economic slumps in decades. Interactive is one of the advertising sectors that has been least affected,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “In recent years the digital revolution has driven a transformation of how consumers experience advertising and media. As the economy improves, we’re confident that brands will devote an even greater share of their budgets to reaching consumers as they make interactive media a larger part of their lives.”

• Search Continues to Lead, followed by Display Banners and Classifieds—Search revenue accounted for 47 percent of 2009 second-quarter revenues, up from the 44 percent reported in the second quarter of 2008. Display advertising, the second largest format, accounted for 35 percent, followed by Classifieds (10 percent), and Lead Generation (7 percent) of 2009 second-quarter revenues.

(Note: I was particularly intrigued with the chart on page 10 in the IAB report showing the difference in growth between Search vs. Lead Gen.)

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Folio's Matt Kinsman has put together a thoughtful summary on the state of the eMedia Ad Rev business titled "E-Media Reality Check" that's certainly worth reading for all of us who are thrashing about in the world of "NewMedia".

One quick thought re: both of these articles is that I wonder about the impact Google and the other search engines are having on the ad rev / lead gen market given that more and more advertisers are able to track the conversion of keywords on their respective web sites. Advertisers do in fact have a worthy though somewhat limited alternative for generating leads and when you factor in the info they can derive from Google Analytics the story becomes even more compelling...for them.