• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 18, 2012

Internet ad spending grew 22% in 2011 to $31 billion from $26 billion in 2010, according to the latest figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau. That growth rate tops last year’s 14.5%, indicating digital advertising continues to ramp up after a recession-induced setback in 2009.

For the fourth quarter of 2011, online ad spending hit nearly $9 billion, up 20.4% from a year ago, and 14.7% from the third quarter.

The IAB said mobile advertising, which it only began tracking last year, was the fastest-growing category in 2011, jumping 149% to $1.6 billion from $641 million in 2010. Mobile also doubled from 2.5% of total online ad dollars to 5%. Read the full report here.