• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 11, 2006

The Interactive Advertising Bureau increased its ranks with the addition of 23 new members last quarter, bringing the total membership to over 250. That figure marks an increase of about 25 percent from last year, when the organization claimed around 205 members, and a more than sixfold increase from the dot-com bust of 2001, when the trade organization counted just 35 companies as members that November.

Greg Stuart, IAB president and CEO, said the increase reflects online advertising's overall health at present. Additionally, he said, the membership increase reflects recruiting efforts by the IAB, which has reorganized and nearly doubled its staff since last year. Currently, the organization has 17 staffers--up from around 10 last year, he said.

The new IAB general members include Adscape Media, Cendant Travel Distribution, Dennis Digital/Maxim Online, Double Fusion, Inc., Kaboose.com, LPI Media, MallTV, OGaming Network, Perfect Market, Prospectiv, QuePasa, Six Apart, Terra Networks, Traffic.com, and Waterfront Media. New Associate Members include: ContextWeb, Enlighten, LatinThre3, Operative, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Root Markets, and TARGUSinfo.

Most of the members--around 70 percent--are online publishers, while the remainder include technology, research, and auditing companies. Members pay annual dues based on revenues; the dues range from $5,000 to fees in the six figures. The organization last month released proposed new standards for the measurement of broadband video ads.

In June, the group expects to release results of cross-media studies with data from campaigns by Volkswagen, Phillips, and, possibly Motorola. The research concerns optimizing media plans against sales, not just brand metrics, Stuart said.