• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 30, 2011

For the third quarter of the year, online advertising revenues were up 22% year-over-year, according to the latest findings from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers US. That amounted to $7.88 billion for the quarter.

The figures also showed a 2.7% increase from the record-setting revenues of the second quarter of 2011. As a result, results for the third quarter of the year marked the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth, according to Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. 

“Brand marketers recognize that their messages need to be where their consumers are spending time -- and that is increasingly in digital media,” Rothenberg said Wednesday. “Digital marketing has delivered the kind of results that have made more marketers stand up and take notice, as these latest numbers clearly demonstrate.” 

The IAB and PwC recently reported that video ads commanded double-digit growth during the first half of the year -- up 42.1% year-over-year -- and moved close to the $1 billion mark, with $891 million in the half year of 2011.

Partly as a result, U.S. online ad revenues rose 23.2%  -- to a record $14.9 billion -- in the first half of the year. 

“Beyond the impressive year-over-year growth of 22% seen during the third quarter of this year, the ongoing increases in Internet advertising revenues point to a new paradigm within the advertising world -- one in which digital is taking a bigger seat at the table,” David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said Wednesday. “Moreover, even with a softened economy, digital advertising is making tremendous gains.” 

Digital video made up 6% of online advertising during the first six months of the year -- or $891 million, according to the IAB. By contrast, banner ads represented a 23% share, or $3.4 billion.