Internet ad revenue outpaced broadcast TV ad revenue for the first time

This chart comes from a new report looking at Internet advertising revenue in 2013 that was prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

“The news that interactive has outperformed broadcast television should come as no surprise,” Randall Rothenberg, president and chief executive of IAB, said in a statement accompanying the report’s release. “It speaks to the power that digital screens have in reaching and engaging audiences.”

Of course, as the chart itself shows, Internet ad revenue still clearly lagged behind the two combined television categories (broadcast and cable) last year. And nobody is going to be surprised by the news that Internet advertising revenue is on the rise (up 17 percent last year over 2012, according to the report).

Still, this is pretty noteworthy: Internet ad revenue topped cable television for the first time in 2011; two years later, it surpassed broadcast television ad revenue.

The key takeaway from the report may be the massive growth in mobile advertising, which reached $7.1 billion last year — an increase of 110 percent over $3.4 billion a year earlier. As you might expect, the money is following the people: Earlier this year, Pew reported that two-thirds of adults in this country access the Internet via a smartphone or tablet.

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