The Internet advertising industry has seemed to have climbed out of last year’s recession in the fourth quarter hitting the highest revenue level ever. New data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PriceWaterhouseCoopers shows that Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. climbed 2.6 percent annually in the fourth quarter to $6.3 billion, and were up 13.8 percent from the previous quarter. These U.S.-only numbers compare to 10.2 percent annual worldwide growth last quarter in Internet advertising revenues for the four largest Web companies as reported by TechCrunch. Industry revenues for the year as a whole were down 3.4 percent to $22.7 billion. It was the first year of declining revenues since 2001.

Does this mean the death of Internet advertising is highly exaggerated?  I think so. Like many forms of advertising, the Internet is an ever evolving form of distribution, display and channels. While overall annual revenues declined from 2008 to 2009 (as shown below), the fourth quarter numbers for 2009 where record breaking.

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