• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 23, 2013

U.S. Internet advertising revenue rose 15% to $10.69 billion in Q3 2013 compared with the year-ago quarter, per the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The IAB on Monday released the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report conducted independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) U.S. It also shows a 4.2% sequential uptick. Companies generated $10.26 billion in Q2 2013.

"These figures reflect marketers' trust in interactive to deliver," stated Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB, adding, "advertisers need to effectively reach targeted audiences wherever they are consuming information or entertainment, often on several screens at once."

During the first half of 2013, Internet advertising revenue in the United States totaled $20.1 billion, with Q1 2013 accounting for approximately $9.8 billion and Q2 2013 accounting for approximately $10.3 billion.

Revenue for the first six months of 2013 rose 18%, compared with the first six months of 2012.

Mobile advertising in the United States totaled $3 billion during the first six months in 2013, up from $1.2 billion in the first six months of 2012.

For search engine marketing, mobile remains the primary driver of traffic growth to Web sites, but continues to weigh on the overall cost per click (CPC) for campaigns, per equity research firm J.P. Morgan. The company hosted a call Friday with search agencies Performics and Rimm-Kaufman Group. Both companies see "solid growth in paid search spend in 4Q thus far, with modest acceleration from 3Q levels," per the research note.

Executives at RKG and Performics said U.S. search spend continued its growth from Q3 to Q4. RKG clients spent 23% more to date in the quarter compared with last year and 21% more in Q3. Performics clients spent 3% more in the quarter through November compared with 11% in 3Q.

Both companies report strong year-on-year click growth of 19% and 17.5%, respectively, although CPC growth settled at 3% for RKG and down 4% for Performics compared with the year-ago quarter.