Internet advertising up 26 per cent

US internet advertising revenue for the first six months of 2005 reached $5.8bn, a 26 per cent increase over the first half of 2004, according to figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Revenue totalled almost $3bn for the second quarter of 2005, also a 26 per cent increase over the same period in 2004 and a 6.6 per cent increase over first quarter of 2005.

"The consistent growth in overall revenues shows that marketers may be shifting more of their total advertising budgets to online," said David Silverman, a partner at PwC.

"This is a natural development as research shows that more consumers are spending a larger percentage of their media time online, while the flow of advertising dollars follows."

The fastest growth was recorded for ad campaigns in search and rich media. Search advertising increased 27 per cent while rich media increased 26 per cent year on year.

But the figures may be cold comfort for small internet ventures. Some 74 per cent of the revenue is controlled by the top 10 websites, 89 per cent by the top 25 and 97 per cent by the top 50. These figures have changed little year on year.

William Makower, chief executive at online agency Panlogic, said: "The popularity of online advertising is tied to the increase in the number of people installing broadband internet connections.

"This means that people are not having to wait for a banner to load but can be interacting with the brand immediately. The interaction is something that billboards and television cannot offer."