• by Masha Geller , April 13, 2001

As pessimism spreads across the U.S. online advertising land this holiday weekend, following disappointing earnings announcements from DoubleClick, trouble at 24/7, Yahoo and others, I thought it might help to look to the rest of the world, namely the United Kingdom, for some good news.

And good news it is. Online advertising continues to grow at a staggering rate in the UK, surging over 200% year-on-year in 2000, a survey showed on Wednesday.

Total spending on online advertising totaled 154.7 million pounds ($221.7 million) in 2000 up from 51 million in 1999, the survey by UK's Internet Advertising Bureau found.

Spending on online advertisements has also for the first time overtaken cinema advertising, estimated at 128 million pounds in 2000, the IAB UK said.

"Clearly, Internet advertising continued to race ahead," Danny Meadows-Klue, Chairman of IAB UK, said. "These growth rates are unparalleled in traditional media."

On second thought, remember the days when we American Advertisers basked in the glorious rays of "growth rates unparalleled in traditional media," completely sure of a smooth road ahead?

All I can say is, I hope our overseas colleagues don't let spectacular growth numbers go to their heads, learn from our mistakes and prepare for rough times ahead before it's too late.