New York - Online ad spending in the U.S. during the first half of 2007 hit a record near $10 billion, with second quarter sales climbing over 25% from the same period a year ago to reach $5.1 billion -- another record -- according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The trends indicate that the U.S. online ad market is on track to reach between $20 billion and $21 billion for the full year, IAB said.

Search ads once again dominated the market, taking 41% of ad dollars in the first half of 2007, followed by display ads such as banners and video at 32%.

"The torrid growth of interactive advertising revenue persists and these results are really no surprise but very welcome news," said IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg.

"More and more marketers have embraced the reality that interactive is the fulcrum on which their brand strategies need to be based and we expect robust growth to continue."

Related Links:
http://www.iab.net/resources/adrevenue/pdf/IAB_PwC%202007Q2.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/35jld4 (Mediaweek)