IAB Revises US Q4 Internet Spend To $1.6bn
Consolidated figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers show that US online adspend was slightly higher in the fourth quarter of last year than announced in preliminary results in April (see US Online Adspend Drops 17% In 2002).
The restated figures put Q4 internet spend at $1.6 billion, up from the previously reported total of $1.5 billion. This represents a decline of 3.7% on Q4 the previous year, but is 8.9% higher than Q3 2003. However, the quarter on quarter growth is likely to be partly the result of seasonal patterns in advertising spend; Christmas, for example, draws in extra retail marketing activity.
The revised figures put full-year US internet adspend down by 15.5%. The good news for the industry, however, is that the rate of decline is currently slowing with each quarter.
In 2002, internet advertising expenditure accounted for approximately 2.5% of all US advertising spend, down from around 3.1% in 2001. Nevertheless, it remains one of the fastest growing advertising sectors ever.
| US Internet Advertising Spend | ||
| Spend ($bn) | Growth (%) | |
| 1996 | 0.3 | – |
| 1997 | 0.9 | 239.7 |
| 1998 | 1.9 | 111.7 |
| 1999 | 4.6 | 140.7 |
| 2000 | 8.1 | 75.3 |
| 2001 | 7.1 | -12.3 |
| 2002 | 6.0 | -15.5 |
| Source: IAB/PricewaterhouseCoopers | ||
