Record Net on Net

Internet advertising revenue rose to $1.3 billion through the first nine months of 1998 and was on track to reach $2 billion for the year, the Internet Advertising Bureau said. That growth would mark the first time that spending exceeded $1 billion in one calendar year, according to IAB’s quarterly report. Online ad revenue in the third quarter, a traditionally slow period, jumped to $491 million, more than double the figure a year ago and up 16% from the second quarter, the IAB said in its quarterly report.

Consumer-related online advertising, which includes categories such as retailing, automobiles, mail order, toys and games, and travel and hotels, accounted for 27% of the revenue in the quarter. Computer advertising accounted for 24%; financial services, 16%; telecommunications, 11%; and new media, 7%, according to the IAB.

The survey, which includes results from 200 companies representing more than 1,200 Web sites, has been compiled since 1996 by New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers.