Search advertising revenue share increased 1.7% in the total Internet advertising in first six months of 2009, when compared to the first half of 2008. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) report, total Internet advertising revenues were $10.9 billion in first half of 2009, declining 5.3% when compared to the corresponding period last year. The revenues were $11.5 billion for the first six months of 2008.
Search ad continue as the top revenue generator
Search advertising revenue accounted 47% in first six months of 2009. Display ads and classifieds are next to search advertising respectively. In absolute numbers, search ad revenues totaled $5.1 billion for the first six months of this year, with no change reported in the corresponding period of 2008. However, the share in the total Internet advertising increased by 1.7% as the other segments’ share decreased. This shows that, there is no improvement in search ad revenue. The only difference is in terms of search advertising revenue percentage in the total revenue.
The most costly online display advertising revenues declined by 1.1% in the first half of 2009 when compared to the first half of 2008. The total revenues were $3.8 billion with 34% in first six months of 2009. The display related advertising revenues including banner ads generated $2,394 million with 22% of the total Internet advertising revenues. Rich media generated $704 million with 7% share, digital video ads generated $477 million with 4%, and sponsorship ads generated $184 million with 2% of total Internet ad revenues.
First time negative trend in first half revenues in 2009, since 2002
If the historical revenues trends are observed during the last seven years, for the first time there was a negative trend in year over year revenue growth in 2009 first half. The revenues were $2,978 million in 2002, $3,292 million in 2003, $4,590 million in 2004, $5,787 million in 2005, $7909 million in 2006, $9,993 million in 2007, $11,510 million in 2008 and $10,900 million in 2009. Earlier a negative growth trend was seen in 2000-2001 and 2001-2002. This trend appeared three times in the last ten years and first time in the last seven years.
Overall, search advertising revenues show positive trend, though there is a drop across all other advertising format revenues in the first half of 2009. It indicates that people who invested in search advertising got better revenues when compared to others who invested in other online advertising formats.
