Online Ad Revenues Jump 23% to New Record

Internet advertising revenues hit $7.3 billion in the first quarter, setting a new record, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reports.

The figure is a 23% jump over Q1 2010, which had been a first-quarter record as well.

In April, the IAB reported that online revenues for 2010 were $26 billion, a 15% jump over 2009, which had seen a 3.4% drop during the recession. The big category movers for the year included sponsorships, which grew 88%. Classified advertising also rose 15% over 2009. The lion’s share of digital advertising revenues continue to come from search, which accounted for 46% of such revenues last year.

The IAB didn’t outline how various categories within digital advertising performed in Q1 2011. The organization provides such data for six-month periods, not quarters.

The IAB doesn’t break out figures for Facebook’s share of the display advertising market, a $9.9 billion business in 2010. ComScore estimated that Facebook took 31.2% of all display ad impressions in Q1. ComScore doesn’t estimate revenues.