The online ad industry raked in more than ever in a first quarter this year, though the rate of growth has slowed since Q1 2011. The Interactive Advertising Bureau reported today online ad revenue hit $8.4 billion in the first three months of 2012.
The total represents a 15 percent rise in digital ad revenue compared to Q1 2011, when the total reached $7.3 billion. In the first quarter 2011, that $7.3 billion represented a 23 percent increase over Q1 2010. Still, 15 percent is twice the rate of growth when comparing Q1 2010 to Q1 2009 - which the IAB measured at 7.5 percent.
As always, research for the Q1 2012 report was conducted in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers. According to IAB, the report includes mobile ad revenue along with search, display, and other ad formats, as it did in Q1 2011.

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Kate Kaye was Managing Editor at ClickZ News until October 2012. As a daily reporter and editor for the original news source, she covered beats including digital political campaigns and government regulation of the online ad industry. Kate is the author of Campaign '08: A Turning Point for Digital Media, the only book focused on the paid digital media efforts of the 2008 presidential campaigns. Kate created ClickZ's Politics & Advocacy section, and is the primary contributor to the one-of-a-kind section. She began reporting on the interactive ad industry in 1999 and has spoken at several events and in interviews for television, radio, print, and digital media outlets. You can follow Kate on Twitter at @LowbrowKate.
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