CMRi estimates that Internet ad spending for the first three quarters of 2001 totaled $2.1 billion. Auction site parent company Ebay Inc. led Internet spending with $35.7 million for the first three quarters of 2001. Recurring online spending leader General Motors Corp. fell slightly behind Ebay Inc. at $35.5 million.

"As many look to the holiday season to alleviate the slowdown in online activity, we may see a bright spot in spending post-holiday, especially as more and more traditional companies move their ad campaigns to the Internet," said David Peeler, president and CEO of CMR. "In order to overcome some of the cuts in ad budgets that most (online) advertisers felt this year, companies are carefully utilizing online targeting capabilities to effectively market brands to appropriate end users. As companies take advantage of this tactic, the advertising industry is hopeful of seeing a steady increase of dollars budgeted for Internet ad campaigns in the new year."

Top Online Revenue by Web Site First Three Quarters 2001

Top Online Ad Spending by Company First Three Quarters 2001

Top Online Ad Spending by Industry Class First Three Quarters 2001

Web site revenues continued to be dominated by Yahoo in the first three quarters of 2001 totaling $284.4 million. However, compared to the same timeframe in 2000, Yahoo revenues decreased 8.6 percent from $311.2 million. Also topping the Web site revenue list were AOL.com and Excite, which garnered $252.6 million and $118.2 million respectively.

About CMR
TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, offers strategic advertising intelligence to advertising agencies, advertisers, broadcasters and publishers. The company's tracking technologies collect occurrence and expenditure data, as well as the creative executions of over 900,000 brands across 15 media. CMR is headquartered in New York City and maintains sales locations in major markets throughout the United States. For further information, visit http://www.cmr.com.

Through its network of offices in more than 50 countries, Taylor Nelson Sofres provides marketing information services to leading national and multi-national companies operating in over 80 countries. It is ranked as the fourth largest marketing information group in the world. Further information on Taylor Nelson Sofres is available from the corporate Web site: http://www.tnsofres.com.

Editor's Note:
First Three Quarters 2001 Advertising Spending By Industry Category available upon request.

¹ Figures are based on CMRi's AdNetTrackUS Internet advertising expenditure database.