• by Ken Liebeskind , May 3, 2001

The latest online advertising revenue projection comes from eMarketer and it's pretty rosy.

The New York research firm projects online ad spending will grow to $7.6 billion this year, a 7% increase from the $7.1 billion spent in 2000. That may sound low but it compares favorably with other media, where spending will remain flat or increase less than 2.5%, according to media analysts.

"Online advertising is alive and well, even though it has been impacted by a significant economic slowdown," said Jonathan Jackson, eMarketer senior analyst. "Although several investment banks and industry nay-sayers have recently been predicting a negative growth rate for online advertising this year, eMarketer sees continued strength in the medium."

The $7.6 billion figure includes all kinds of online advertising, such as banners, email marketing and sponsorships.

The eMarketer report lists three main reasons Web advertising is continuing to grow: its targetability; technical evolution to rich media formats; the fact that consumers can make direct purchases through banners ads and email.

Other key findings of the report include:

· The average internet user is exposed to 610 ad impressions per day

· 74% of web advertising space goes unsold

· More than 99.7% of banner ads do not get clicked

· Nearly 90% of online ads are direct-response oriented

· The online medium garners 10% of consumers' daily media usage, but only 2.9% of media dollars

The report is drawn from research by a number of companies, including AdRelevance, Competitive Media Reporting and Jupiter Reserach.

- Ken Liebeskind may be reached at kenrunz@aol.com