Online advertising in U.S. decline 5.3% in first half of year

Spending on online advertising in the U.S. dropped 5.3% to $10.9 billion in the first half of the year, according to data released Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Pricewaterhousecoopers. According to a story from MediaPost, the data showed that spending in Q2 fell 5.4% to $5.4 billion and was essentially flat and consistent with Q1's decline.

While acknowledging the online ad contraction this year, Sherrill Mane, senior vice president of industry services at the IAB, tried to frame it in the context of the overall ad decline of 15.4%, citing Nielsen figures for the first six months of 2009. "Within that none-too-cheerful landscape, the Internet decline is relatively small," she said.

Search ads remained steady. Classified ads declined steeply. Banner ads were essentially flat from a year ago at $1.2 billion, accounting for 22% of sales.

"Flat in a market down 5% is quite exceptional," said [David] Hallerman [a senior analyst at eMarketer], adding that it showed online has become a requisite element of mainstream campaigns. Digital video remained the star of the display ad category, increasing 38% to $477 million.