Internet ad revenue is real and marketers mean business, according to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Internet Advertising Bureau. Internet ad spending is set to reach $10.1 billion in 2004, a 38.9 percent jump over the same period last year, and topping the record 2000 take.

Nonetheless, business-to-business marketers have largely remained on the sidelines, allocating less than 10 percent of ad budgets to online media. Continuing caution about demand from B2B customers appears to be the reason for reticence from companies that serve business markets.

It has been reported that many B2B marketers fear that online ads will cannibalize the money already allocated to print advertising campaigns. According to Jim Callan, publisher of Employment Benefit News, that isn't happening. Callan states that benefitnews.com's ad efforts contribute 15 percent to the brand's bottom line, creating revenue streams from advertisers and garnering new clients that focus on Web-based branding. EBN's biggest advertisers, MetLife, AARP and UnitedHealthcare, are repeat customers in both print and online. "We see very little cannibalization from online. The pie typically tends to get bigger," says Callan.

(September, 2004)