Online Ad Impressions Grew 14 Percent In Q1, As Separate Research Shows Flat Prices In May

(PaidContent.org)  This story was written by David Kaplan.

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Internet ad impressions grew by 14.7 percent in Q1, buoyed by search as the main driver and rich media, which gave display a boost, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Again, while healthy, the numbers show significant slowing in online ad growth, as Nielsen said online grew 31.9 percent in its Q107 survey.

Meanwhile, the National Newspaper Association's research showed that revenue slowed sharply in Q1 in that web segment as well, rising only 7.2 percent compared to the 22 percent gains recorded the year before. Last week, TNS Media Intelligence reported that display ad dollars in Q1 came in with an 8.5 percent gain, reflecting a large gap between the 16.7 percent figure from the same period in 2007. More from Nielsen's numbers here.

While the differences between this year and last is mostly a result of the law of large numbers, the sputtering economy could be having some impact. While Lehman Brothers internet analyst Doug Anmuth, in an briefing note, said that the recessionary pressures were unlikely to have much of an impact on online ad spending after speaking with executives at WPP's GroupM Interaction, Publicis Groupe's Digitas and Aegis, web publisher consultant Pubmatic differs.

The company's research showed that online ad prices were essentially flat, slipping 0.7 percent in May after the previous month's precipitous 23 percent drop. Its second monthly PubMatic AdPrice Index is based on data from more than 3,500 publishers and billions of ad impressions. Looking at individual segments, entertainment, news and technology sites continued to fall, dropping by 11-, 13 -and 22 percent, respectively; gaming and social net sites proved the exception, as prices in those categories rose 51 and 66 percent in May. Release More details from Nielsen's and Pubmatic's reports after the jump.

-- Nielsen: Among online marketers, the health and telecom sectors posted strong increases in sponsored search link impressions, gaining 108 percent and 80 percent respectively. Hardware and electronics advertisers also saw robust growth 65 percent growth, followed by automotive and consumer goods companies, who posted increases of 45 percent and 42 percent respectively. On the down side, financial services companies, historically among the largest online advertisers, decreased investment during the period in both sponsored search impressions, which were down 15 percent as display fell 13 percent.

-- Pubmatic: The gaming and social net gains the company saw in online ad prices pushed up sites with at least 100 million pageviews a month; those sites showed the biggest improvement compared to medium and small sites by rising 16 percent from April, growing from 18 cents to 21 cents. Medium websites were stable, while smaller sites saw prices drop 12 percent from the month before.