• by August 17, 2000

A new report from Jupiter Communications, Inc., and Media Metrix, Inc. reveals that business-to-business online advertising is the fastest growing and one of the most financially rewarding segments for online publishers.

Data from AdRelevance, Media Metrix' online ad tracking division, indicates that the B2B segment has grown to 5.6 billion online ad impressions in second quarter 2000 up from one billion impressions in third quarter 1999. And the growth in the B2B market outpaces the industry average, according to the data. In fourth quarter 1999, the growth rate of B2B online ad spending was just below that of the industry average at 89%; however, it easily surpassed the industry average with 94% growth in first quarter 2000.

Jupiter analysts estimate that based in its current growth rate, the B2B market will grow to $3 billion by 2005, representing 18% of online advertising spending on mainstream online media.

AdRelevance data reveals that 80% of B2B online ad impressions are hosted on 25 publisher sites. Compared with more mature markets, such as financial services and retail, where the majority of online advertising impressions are distributed across eight or ten publisher sites, respectively, B2B online advertising is highly fragmented.

Jupiter analysts believe that the B2B market will only become more fragmented. Publishers should continue to devote resources that target B2B ad dollars, despite their fears that fragmentation could equal lower revenue potential. In fact, top publishers, as ranked by B2B advertising impressions, each earn on average $5 million quarterly from this growing market, compared with only $500,000 per top publishers in the automotive industry.

Copies of the report are available free of charge at http://advertising.jup.com/ or http://www.mediametrix.com.