NEW YORK – For the first time since the dot-com bust, the amount of money spent on Internet advertising declined year-over-year in the first three months of this year, according to a new report.
Marketers spent an estimated $5.5 billion on Web ads in the first quarter, down 5 percent from the same period a year ago, according to a report released last Friday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade association, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. It was the first annual decline since 2002, the report said.
“We’re confident that growth will resume as the U.S. economic climate improves,” Randall Rothenberg, the trade group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Interactive advertising is the most accountable way to reach consumers – and in this economy, digital media will be a core component of any successful marketing campaign.”
David Silverman of PriceWaterhouseCoopers also noted that Internet advertising continued to gain market share from other types of media.
In 2008, Internet advertising revenue rose 11 percent, which was the smallest annual increase since 2002, according to the report.
