Online Ad Spend Up $45 Million in October
Tech company media buying accounts for 25 percent of online advertising.
Internet advertising increased by $45 million in October to reaching a total $741.2 million for the month, according to AdZone’s Internet Advertising Report.
The 6.5 percent gain marked the second consecutive month-over-month increase, and the highest monthly total since April, when online ad spending reached $746.0 million. For the first 10 months of the year, total online ad spend was approximately $7.0 billion.
The report, issued monthly, looks at online advertising spending based on data from over 2,500 Web sites worldwide.
| 2004 Online Ad Spending Trends | ||
|---|---|---|
| Month | Estimated Expenditures |
Impressions |
| Jan-04 | $826,115,500 | 76,769,710,000 |
| Feb-04 | $664,427,600 | 59,887,610,000 |
| Mar-04 | $687,473,200 | 66,874,720,000 |
| Apr-04 | $745,984,000 | 71,373,600,000 |
| May-04 | $652,480,800 | 58,391,660,000 |
| Jun-04 | $690,350,900 | 64,956,190,000 |
| Jul-04 | $684,615,000 | 64,069,030,000 |
| Aug-04 | $611,146,300 | 52,334,900,000 |
| Sep-04 | $696,169,600 | 61,516,340,000 |
| Oct-04 | $741,227,500 | 65,654,420,000 |
| Source: AdZone Research, Inc. | ||
Technology companies continued as the leading spenders online in October, accounting for 25.3 percent of all expenditures (online ad spend) for the month, said John Cardona, AdZone’s COO.
“Technology continued its dominance as the top advertising category,” Cardona said. “With more than $187 million in online spending, such companies as Dell Computer, Hewlett Packard, and IBM continued to lead Internet spending in October.”
| Top 10 Advertiser Categories October 2004 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Category | Estimated Expenditures | Impressions |
| 1 | Technology | $187,259,200 | 17,140,490,000 |
| 2 | Business | $90,043,820 | 8,287,853,000 |
| 3 | Retail | $87,508,700 | 8,564,552,300 |
| 4 | Finance | $79,679,330 | 7,125,604,000 |
| 5 | Sports & Leisure | $59,005,300 | 6,737,880,700 |
| 6 | Travel | $51,874,700 | 4,069,423,000 |
| 7 | Entertainment | $43,628,300 | 3,052,458,000 |
| 8 | Home | $42,691,000 | 3,156,248,000 |
| 9 | Health | $28,142,900 | 2,187,791,000 |
| 10 | Automotive | $23,160,000 | 1,792,670,000 |
| Source: AdZone Research, Inc. | |||
Whereas the finance category ranked second behind technology in September, spending $89.7 million, business and retail categories took the second and third positions in October, with $90.0 million and $87.5 million, respectively. Ad spending by companies in the finance sector totaled $79.7 million in October.
Monthly online advertising expenditures have been lower since the January high of $826.1 million, but since then have consistently registered levels over $650 million per month. That consistency appears to substantiate other recently released metrics indicating stabilization in the online ad sector. August, typically a slow month, was the single exception with a total of $611.1 million.
In a special holiday addendum to the report, AdZone also released figures for November 18 through December 1. In the two week time span, total advertising expenditures reached an estimated $461.5 million, or 24.5 percent higher than the October spending pace.
