Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

Web Ads Taking Off Again: Q1 Revenues A Record $7.3 Billion

Remember when the economy was so lousy that even Web ads were down?

Ancient history, at least as far as the Internet’s concerned: Marketers spent $7.3 billion on U.S. Web ads in the first three months of 2011. That’s a record for Q1, says the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

That number represents a 23 percent year-over-year increase. I’ve gotten used to adding caveats here, pointing out that these boosts are coming off a low base, but that’s no longer the case, either–2010 was pretty good for most of the Web ad business, too. Unless you’re talking about Yahoo or AOL, which have lagged the market.

And, as always, it’s worth remembering that these stats are largely a reflection of Google’s health, since the search giant represents a big chunk of the IAB’s totals.

[Image credit: Steve Jurvetson]

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I’m a giant vat of creative juices.

— David Pogue on why he’s joining Yahoo