The Interactive Advertising Bureau reports that Internet advertising exceeded $4.2 billion for the third quarter of 2006, a 33% increase over the same period last year. 
This chart from PWC/IAB shows the rapid growth in on-line advertising. Remember, this is revenue per quarter, not cumulative revenue over time.
Google recorded Q3 revenues of $2.7B, accounting for 64% of all on-line advertising.
Online advertising is big business and it is growing very fast as advertisers move more of their budgets from traditional advertising (print, radio, TV) to more interactive on-line advertising. Internet advertising still accounts for less than 10% of overall ad spending.
The San Jose Mercury News has certainly felt the impact of readers moving online. Remember this quote from my March 2006 post;
At its peak in 2000, The Mercury News had a Sunday circulation of 326,839 subscribers, according to the newspaper. Last September, the company counted 278,470 Sunday subscribers, a drop of about 15 percent. Revenue from the company's help-wanted ads fell to $18 million a year from more than $118 million, according to the paper. The newsroom was whittled to 280 people from 404, a 30 percent decline.
No trend continues on a straight line forever. There will be ups and downs, new advertising markets, and new competitors. But, Internet advertising looks like a very solid business with good growth prospects over the next several years.
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