Sep 26, 2006, 16:51 GMT
San Francisco - Internet advertising hit a record 8 billion dollars in the first six months of 2006, fuelled by a 40 per cent growth in search-related advertising, according to a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Online classified advertising was also sharply higher, as the internet continued to draw advertisers away from print ads, the report said.
The study came just days after Yahoo issued a profit warning because it expects automakers and financial companies to cut advertising costs in an economic slowdown.
A second study released Monday indicated that the slowdown will not be confined to Yahoo.
Internet ad tracker eMarketer said it expects Web ad spending to hit 15.9 billion dollars this year, ratcheting down an earlier forecast of 16.7 billion dollars it made in July. The new figure represents an increase of 26.8 per cent, compared with the earlier estimate of 33.2 per cent.
Yahoo's warning 'may well signal a canary-in-the-coal mine syndrome: that lower revenues at the Internet's leading publisher for brand-oriented advertising reflect an overall softening in the U.S. economy,' eMarketer analyst David Hallerman wrote.
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