Online advertising at $4.2 billion in Q3 (maybe)

Internet advertising revenues reached an estimated new record of $4.2 billion for the third quarter of 2006, representing a 33 percent increase over $3.1 billion in Q3 2005 and a 2 percent increase over the Q2 2006 total of nearly $4.1 billion, according to a joint announcement of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

David Silverman, Partner, Assurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers, emphasizes:

Interactive advertising, with its eighth consecutive quarter of growth and the largest single quarter ever, is on pace for its biggest year.  This growth follows the trend of where consumers are spending their media time and the unique ability of Interactive advertising to effectively target and monitor ad campaigns.

While touting interactive advertising’s “eighth consecutive quarter of growth,” however, PwC stated it:

Does not audit the information and provides no opinion or other form of assurance with respect to the information.

What IS the unaudited information that is reported, but not assured?

Conducted by the New Media Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the "Advertising Revenue Report" was started by the IAB in 1996, and represents data from all companies that report meaningful online advertising revenues. The results are considered the most accurate measurement of Interactive advertising revenues because the data is compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from Web sites, commercial online services, free e-mail providers, and all other companies selling online advertising. 

The numbers LOOK good, as the chart below illustrates.