• by June 20, 2002

Nielsen//NetRatings today revealed the top industries that had the strongest online advertising presence in May, with the retail goods and services category leading the way as the top industry advertising online. In fact, retail companies accounted for 6 out of the top 10 online advertisers for the month.

According to data from the Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance service, retail goods and services took the top spot as the No. 1 industry advertising on the Web, issuing more than 33.8 million ad impressions. Overall online advertising impressions jumped 77% year-over-year to 94.2 billion impressions in May as compared to 53.2 billion ad impressions one year prior.

The financial services category came in second, issuing 14.4 billion online ad impressions while Web Media related ads totaled 12.1 billion. Rounding out the top five list, travel-related online advertising reached 5.4 billion impressions and the entertainment category recorded 4.3 billion online advertising impressions. Twelve out of the 13 industries measured posted year-over-year increases in online ad impressions, with seven categories boasting triple digit growth.

"Retail companies continue to lead all industry segments in using the Web to get their marketing and branding messages across," said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of client analytics at NetRatings. "Books and CDs are still the most dominant products promoted on the Web, as evidenced by this month's top advertiser, Bertelsmann, who led with large campaigns for DoubleDirect and CDNow."

Bertelsmann AG scored as the No. 1 advertiser within the retail goods and services sector while Netstock Corporation took the lead within the financial services category. USA Networks, Inc. issued the most online advertising impressions for both the web media and travel categories, while Cassava Enterprises ran the most entertainment-related online ads.

"The May figures reflect an online ad market that is poised for new growth, but continues to employ tried and tested approaches," Buchwalter said. "The retail goods and services industry comprises the largest share of ad impressions, claiming 30% of all ads. The full banner continues to be the most prevalent ad element accounting for 32% of all impressions and 51% of all online advertisements are driving traffic, indicating that the next wave of online advertising innovation has yet to arrive."