by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, April 26, 2017

I wonder how it will be someday when Internet revenue increases will be measured in ordinary single digit percentages. I can keep wondering for awhile longer.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau on Wednesday reported that according to its annual revenue report compiled by PwC, mobile advertising accounted for more than half of the $72.5 billion spent by advertisers last year. Revenue from mobile was up 145%, to nearly $4.2 billion, though still a small percentage of the mobile action.

Stats in the report indicate why some advertisers may be putting pressure on content makers and publishes to guard against nasty materials. I suppose it works the other way, too. If the market is that hot, it’s a good time to take chances.

Altogether, on all kinds of devices, digital video garnered $9.1 billion last year, 53% higher than the year before.

The figures are no doubt timed to coincide with next week’s digital advertising showcase, the NewFronts. David Doty, IAB executive vice president and CMO, stated the selling and displaying sessions, with “the latest in original digital video content,” would “spark even greater interest from marketers and media buyers.”

But the report also points out that “online advertising revenues remain concentrated with the 10 leading ad-selling companies, accounting for 73% of total revenues in Q4 2016.” That’s just about as it has been for the past decade, even with “the emergence of a few heavyweights.” (Who’s that, I don’t wonder.) This year, however, that’s actually a couple percentage points down from the year before.

To give this a little nuance, companies ranked 11th through 25th account for 10%, up a percentage point.

On desktops, video was flat over a year as a share of the total, but it was the only kind of desktop ad format whose revenue went up, 16% over a year ago.

Other bullet points from the IAB data:

*Social-media advertising generated $16.3 billion, up 50%.

*Search revenue reached nearly $35 billion, up 19%.

*Digital audio, measured for the first time, hauled in $1.1 billion.

*Retail, (21.3%), financial Services (13.3%) and automotive (12.5%) led the category buyers.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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