Mobile Grows Quickest, but Search is Still King of Online Advertising

Online ad revenues grew by 15% year-over-year in 2012, per the latest revenue report [pdf] from the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), but the rising tide of online ad spending didn’t lift all boats. For the year, search remained dominant, at 46.3% share of revenues, but was down ever-so-slightly from 46.5% share in 2011, as revenue growth moderately trailed overall internet ad spend growth (14.5% vs. 15.2%). The researchers attribute that to a shift to mobile search, with those revenues now part of the mobile format. That format showed the most rapid increase, with spending up 111%, as mobile increased its share of online revenues from 6% to 9%. (more…)