The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) announced that the 2007 Internet Advertising Revenue Report shows Internet advertising revenues in the US continued their upward climb. For the full year 2007, revenues totaled $21.2 bln, exceeding 2006 performance by 26%, itself the former record year. Q4 2007 Internet advertising revenues hit $5.9 bln, representing historic revenues for a single quarter and a 24% increase over the same period in 2006. This is the fourth consecutive year and 13th consecutive Q of record results.

eCPMs for large Web sites (more than 100 mln page views per month) dropped dramatically by 52% from 38 cents in March 2008 to 18 cents in April 2008. Medium Web sites (1 mln to 100 mln page views per month) were nearly flat, with monetization dropping from 34 cents in March 2008 to 33 cents in April 2008. Small Web sites managed to improve their monetization, increasing from $1.18 in March 2008 to $1.29 in April 2008, Pubmatic says.

By a 55% to 45% majority, US adults indicate that they would be more comfortable with companies’ using information about a person’s online activities to provide customized advertising or content, according to Harris Interactive. Once the privacy/security policies were presented, the percentages of those who are very comfortable increases only slightly to 9%, from 7% according to Harris Interactive. The percentage who are somewhat comfortable given the privacy/security policies increases more significantly, to 46% from 34%. Similarly, the proportion of those who are not at all comfortable declines to 19% from 25%, and of those who are not very comfortable declines to 26% from 34%.

The recruitment sector continued to lead the market with 25.7% market share, up 0.9 points on the second half of 2006, according to Internet Advertising Bureau. Second was automotive with 11.9%, while Technology (10.4%) overtook Finance (10%) for the first time to take third place. Other areas of growth were retail, which increased 1.7 points, to 5%, as a result of a buoyant ecommerce sector. Consumer goods (including FMCG) increased to 5.3%.Property climbed the ladder to break into the top five with a market share of 7.9%.

1. USA Today, 2,284,219, up 0.3%
2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,069,463, up 0.4%
3. The New York Times, 1,077,256, down 3.9%
4. Los Angeles Times, 773,884, down 5.1%
5. New York Daily News, 703,137, down 2.1%
6. New York Post, 702,488, down 3.1%
7. The Washington Post, 673,180, down 3.6%
8. Chicago Tribune, 541,663, down 4.4%
9. Houston Chronicle, 494,131, down 1.8%
10. The Arizona Republic, 413,332, down 4.7%
11. Newsday, Long Island, 379,613, down 4.7%
12. San Francisco Chronicle, 370,345, down 4.2%
13. Dallas Morning News, 368,313, down 10.6%
14. The Boston Globe, 350,605, down 8.3%
15. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 345,130, down 7.4%
16. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 334,150, down 5.1%
17. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, 330,280, down 4.2%
18. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 326,907, down 8.5%
19. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 321,984, down 6.7%
20. St. Petersburg Times, Florida, 316,007, down 2.1%

38.6% of Americans say online advertising is focused on their age group. Only respondents in the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups tend to say online advertising is focused on them: 56.6% and 56.5% say so, respectively, according to Burst Media. Some 43.8% of those age 35-44 say online advertising focuses on people their age; 52.9% of them say it targets younger people - as do 72.5% of those age 45-54 and 83.2% of those 55+. 59.6% say they are typically visiting more websites than a year ago - and that’s the trend for all age groups, including nearly 63% of those 55 or older.

Advertising expenditures for newspaper websites in 2007 increased 18.8%, to $3.2 bln - accounting for 7.5% of all newspaper ad spending last year (up from 5.7% in 2006), according to Newspaper Association of America. Print ad expenditures were down 9.4% in the same period, however, and total (combined print and online) newspaper ad expenditures were down 7.9% for the year.

In Q4 2007 advertising expenditures for newspaper websites increased to $847 mln, up 13.6% compared with the same period in 2006. Advertising expenditures at newspapers and their websites, combined, totaled $12.6 bln for Q4 2007; spending for print ads in newspapers totaled $11.7 bln, according to Newspaper Association of America.

56% of internet-using newspaper readers researched or purchased at least one product they saw advertised in the newspaper. 42% of respondents purchased at least one product. 44% of respondents researched at least one product. Among them 67% researched online, and 70% of this group made a subsequent purchase; 48% visited, and 23% called, a store; 23% asked a friend, according to Newspaper Association of America

47% of those who responded to a newspaper ad by going online went directly to a URL they saw in the advertisement, according to Newspaper Association of America. 31% of them chose to use a search engine (mostly Google). The purchase probability of those who responded to a newspaper ad by searching Google is about the same as those who respond by visiting a store (72% and 71%, respectively).

48% of respondents said they would trust the product more if they saw it in the newspaper after seeing it online, according to Newspaper Association of America. 52% said they would be more likely to purchase that product.

In 2007 search ads grew by 39% in United Kingdom, in line with overall growth, to £1.6 bln ($3.14 bln) (£1.2 bln ($2.35 bln) in 2006), according to Internet Advertising Bureau.Search market share remained largely the same at 57.6% (57.8% in 2006). Classified advertising grew 54% year-on-year and was worth £585.3 mln ($1, 15 bln) in 2007, as consumers and marketers recognized online’s exceptional reach, flexibility and immediacy.

Online advertising in the UK grew in 2007 with more than £2.8 bln ($5.5 bln) - a 38% year-on-year increase - and a market share of 15.3%, according to Internet Advertising Bureau. In 2003-2007 online advertising spend has increased by £2 bln ($3.9 bln). In UK advertising market the internet share grew 4.3% to reach £18.4 bln ($36.18 bln). Total internet display advertising spend increased 31% YOY, while the core formats - banners, skyscrapers and embedded rich media, including video - grew 45% to £592 mln ($1,164 bln). Spend on embedded formats has doubled during the past two years to account for 79% of total display.

Enterprise spending on Web 2.0 technologies will surge over the next 5 years, growing 43% each year to reach $4.6 bln globally by 2013, according to Forrester Research. 56% of North American and European enterprises consider Web 2.0 to be a priority in 2008.