• by Laurie Petersen , September 12, 2007

The financial services category led the way as overall Internet display advertising registered a 17.7% year-over-year increase to $5.52 billion for the first six months, TNS Media Intelligence reported Tuesday.

With total ad expenditures of $72.59 billion for the period marking a decline of 0.3%, an unusually wide variation occurred across media types. Internet display advertising jumped to 7.6% of total expenditures, up from 6.4% a year ago. Magazines were the only other category registering a gain, up 0.9% to 20% of ad spending at $14.55 billion.

For the first time, Internet display advertising was the dominant media category in financial services with 21.6% of all measured advertising spending, said Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research for TNS MI.

"It's a significant thing," Swallen said, adding that the current instability in the subprime mortgage markets will not necessarily translate into an end-of-year decline in Internet ad spending for the category.

Leading the Internet ad spenders for January through June was LendingTree.com, which spent $120.999 million on display advertising. The next closest spender was University of Phoenix Online at $79.4 million for the period.

In addition, Swallen said, the first half of the year saw a surge in display advertising spending among the top 50 advertisers that account for one-third of all ad spending. Their Internet budgets increased by 58% year-over-year for the period, as compared to the 17.8% benchmark for all spending.

"With this surge, I do think it's real," Swallen added. "I don't think it's a blip."

Still, few have cracked the top 25 Internet display spenders, which continue to be dominated by online-only and direct businesses.

Top 25 Internet Display Advertisers (First Half 2007)

Brand	Jan. 2007 - June 2007 Dollars (000)
LendingTree.com Online	120,999.0
University of Phoenix Online	79,400.4
Classmates.com Online	69,439.2
Netflix.com Store Online	69,137.7
Fidelity Brokerage Services Consumer Services	69,118.6
Lowermybills.com Online	65,540.2
eTrade Financial Online	53,724.1
Monster.com Employment Services Online	52,931.5
eBay.com Auctions Online	52,905.7
ScotTrade Stock Brokerage Consumer Services	50,256.0
TD Ameritrade Brokerage Online	48,103.7
Verizon Wireless Service	46,335.5
eTrade Financial Consumer Services	32,002.2
Countrywide Home Loans Consumer Services	30,487.1
Privacy Matters Services	29,605.9
Cingular Wireless Service	28,183.2
Sprint Wireless Service	27,927.2
Verizon ISP	27,040.2
Vonage Internet Phone Service	25,428.6
StubHub Tickets Agency Online	24,674.0
ScotTrade Online	24,104.2
Capital One Consumer Services	23,039.1
Blockbuster.com Store Online	22,448.9
FXCM.Com Investment Broker Online	21,991.3
Dice.com Employment Services Online	21,538.3

Source: TNS Media Intelligence