March 11, 1998 Event

The Maturation of Web Advertising

Pegged to become a $4 billion market by the year 2000, Web advertising is growing up and going mainstream. Hundreds of thousands of Web sites rely on it as a critical source of income, but more important is Web advertising's growing acceptance as a means to reach targeted viewers among the attractive Internet demographic.

Interestingly, analysts estimate that 70 to 80 percent of all ad banners go unsold outside of the 25 most popular Web sites. This situation poses revenue problems for smaller, ad-supported sites, while creating opportunities for companies which match banner ads with targeted groups of users [DoubleClick, AdKnowledge, LinkExchange].

In addition, advertisers' demand for definitive information about Web audiences has resulted in a fierce competition to provide reliable ratings [Media Metrix, RelevantKnowledge, Nielsen]. These ratings are used both to market sites to advertisers and to determine where advertisers want to spend their marketing dollars.

As Web advertising continues to evolve, the companies which fulfill the Internet's ultimate promise of true one-to-one marketing are sure to prosper.

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