• by Shankar Gupta , February 23, 2005

Internet ad spending reached nearly $2.7 billion during the fourth quarter of 2004, the highest quarter yet since the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers began tracking the marketplace.

For full year 2004, online ad spending totaled $9.6 billion, a 32 percent increase over 2003. The fourth quarter of 2004 saw a nearly 24 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2004. The IAB sponsored the ad revenue report, which is independently conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The estimates of the third- and fourth-quarter revenue figures were calculated by surveying and aggregating data from the top 15 ad sellers, and extrapolating for a total industry estimate. The actual results will be available in the full Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which is expected to be released in April or May of 2005.

In November 2004, eMarketer predicted that total online advertising revenue would reach $9.4 billion, and could reach double that figure in 2005.