The text below is taken from the guardian ... here is a link to the full story
http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertising/story/0,,2181856,00.html
Mark Sweney
Tuesday October 2, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk
Internet classified advertising has surged 72% year on year - the biggest increase in two years - putting further pressure on the print sector, a report said today.
The report, by the Internet Advertising Bureau, also revealed 41.3% growth across the whole internet advertising sector for the first six months of the year - with revenue at £1.33bn - smashing some forecasts that predicted growth would slow to about 30%.
UK advertisers spent just over £277m on online classified advertising between January and June this year - an increase of 72% over the same six-month period last year.
Classifieds now account for more than one in five pounds of all internet advertising spend, driven by advertisers in the recruitment, automotive and property sectors.
The 72% period-on-period increase is the highest recorded by the IAB since the first half of 2005.
However, an IAB spokesman said that the massive growth seen in 2005 was primarily fuelled by the addition to the IAB's audit of websites that take classified advertisin, whereas now the growth surge is purely market budgets being shifted.
Overall, the report, compiled in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre, found that online advertising's share of all media spend is just under 15%.
On the back of this growth, the IAB is predicting that the online advertising sector - which has overtaken the direct mail sector in size - could be worth £2.75bn by the end of the year.
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