Despite a slow economy and down national advertising spending, interactive advertising grew in 2008 with record numbers released in a report by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). Interactive advertising spending smashed the 2007 record of $21.2 billion to $23 billion in 2008. The release notes that this is the fifth consecutive year of record numbers for interactive advertising. Even the fourth-quarter results made records with $6.1 billion versus $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Just a few weeks ago, The Nielsen Company announced declining numbers of national advertising spending, so it seems apparent that companies are choosing to spend their ad dollars in interactive platforms. A few highlights of the IAB, PwC report include: search continued to generate the most revenue with 45 percent of total interactive spending versus 42 percent in 2007; digital video grew the most from $324 to $734 in 2008; and, classifieds and e-mail dipped slightly from $3,321 to $3,174, and $424 to $405 respectively.

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