B2B Online Advertising Up

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

Businesses spread the message.

US business-to-business ad spending totaled $14.39 billion in 2006, up 1.4% from $14.19 billion in 2005, according to a BtoB Magazine analysis of ad spending data from TNS Media Intelligence.

Online display ads made up nearly 10% of B2B ad spending, or $1.4 billion, according to TNS. That figure is 17% up from 2005 levels, BtoB said. The firm does not track paid search or online video.

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The top 100 B2B advertisers spent an estimated $6.76 billion on B2B advertising in 2006, up 3% from $6.56 billion in 2005. Telecom giant AT&T led the pack with ads about its merger with Cingular.

"Right away, we had to communicate that these two companies had come together and formed one company, and that the name of the company is AT&T," said Wendy Clark, senior vice president of advertising at AT&T, in a statement. "We had some work to do repositioning the company."

eMarketer last year estimated that overall B2B media spending for 2006 would hit $23.7 billion. That figure included trade shows, exhibitions and other marketing expenditures.

B2B online ad spending data released at the same time by Veronis Suhler Stevenson (based on TNS data) put online ad spending at nearly $2 billion for the year. Although it did not disclose its complete methodology, Veronis Suhler's figure likely included an estimate of B2B paid search spending.