Online ads skyrocket to $16.8bn

Advertising on the internet is continuing to steal old media's lunch, racking up $16.8bn in revenues last year.

According to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, the rise in revenues marks a 34 per cent year on year increase from 2005's figure of $12.5bn.

Internet advertising reached a new high in the last quarter of last year, with revenues topping $4.8bn.

The IAB's chief exec has previously said he expects internet advertising to generate more cash than telly by 2010.

A recent study by analyst house JupiterResearch found that media and entertainment, financial services, travel, and automotive advertisers will be the internet's big spenders in the coming years, contributing $11.5bn to websites' coffers by 2011. These four sectors alone are expected to generate 57 per cent of all online advertising at that point.

Mobile advertising is also expected to grow fast. ABI Research estimated it earned revenues of $1.9bn in 2006.