• by Masha Geller , August 20, 2003

The premier online industry association is getting an infusion of cash. Almost $6 million in cash.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) yesterday announced that several IAB member companies have agreed to participate in an Acceleration Program, which is "designed to hasten the growth of the industry." Participating companies will fund the Acceleration Program by pre-paying $5.8 million worth of membership fees.

"Online publishers have created real momentum in the interactive medium over the past two years as their and the IAB's efforts have brought wider adoption of the medium as an integral part of marketers' budgets. The Acceleration Plan allows the IAB, on behalf of the industry, to build upon our success to date and further accelerate marketers' adoption and thus, spending in the interactive medium," said Shelby Bonnie, Chairman of the IAB and chief executive officer, CNET Networks, Inc.

The IAB acceleration funds are earmarked for the launch of what the association calls "critical industry initiatives" over the next few years that are geared towards both simplifying the process of planning, buying and creating interactive advertising and on educating key marketers, media planners and buyers on the value offered by interactive advertising. In addition, the funds will assist in building IAB membership and member services, according to association officials.

Specific projects made possible by the acceleration funds include: 1) the seven-city Cross Media Optimization Study (XMOS) Road Show conducted in April 2003 2) expansion of XMOS to include additional marketers 2) build-out of the IAB events and education division 3) industry simplification programs (the first of which was the Universal Ad Package, launched in May 2003), including industry-wide standards and guidelines (measurement, ad sizes terms and terms and conditions, etc.) as well as standards for particular industry segments such as email, classifieds, search, etc. 4) development of additional member services, such as the Media Credit System designed to help businesses manage risk.

Acceleration Program participating companies are: 24/7 Real Media, America Online, Inc., CNET Networks, Google, LookSmart, LTD., MSN, New York Times Digital, Overture Services, Wall Street Journal Online, The Walt Disney Internet Group and Yahoo!.

The IAB timed the funding release to coincide with an encouraging announcement of Internet advertising spending totaling $1.692 billion in the first three months of 2003, which represents the first time in two years the industry has achieved two consecutive quarterly increases. Q1 2003 represents a 7% increase over Q4 2002 and an 11% increase over Q1 2002. The IAB sponsors the Internet Ad Revenue Report which is conducted independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The first quarter online ad revenue figure was estimated by surveying and compiling 2003 first-quarter data from the top 15 online ad sellers. The results of this revenue compilation were then extrapolated to calculate the total industry revenue figure. The first quarter figure is an estimate, and actual first quarter results will be disclosed along with actual second quarter revenues in September 2003.