Even with the increase of Internet advertising, there are still other trends at work that need to be examined. Perhaps Baidu is such a good example because they are trying to base a community around their search engine?

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - The marketing dollars targeting potential consumers surfing the Web is set to rise for a fourth year, if the recent growth of online advertising continues apace.

In the first quarter, online advertising soared 38% as advertisers devoted a record $3.9 billion to target consumers on the Web, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In fact, the dollar amount marketers spent in the first three months represents 80% of the dollars spent during all of 1999 - the bubble years of the Internet era.
“Consumer habits are continuing to change and mature,” adds David Silverman, a partner with responsibility for assurance at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Companies are effectively learning to devote more of their advertising budget to this fast-growing advertising platform in order to reach the right audience at the right time.”

Annual spending on online advertising has been rising since 2002, when $6 billion was spent on Internet marketing. In 2003, advertisers spent $7.2 billion. In 2004, $9.6 billion was spent. Last year, marketers spent $12.5 billion on the Web….. Source: MarketWatch

[tags]internet,record,ads,online advertising,percent[/tags]