The internet advertising revenue is predicted to reach its all time high this year after showing a big increase in the first 6 months of the year’s earnings, according to a report from The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Compared to last year first 6 months, the online ad revenue has grown by 23.2%- From $12.1 billion in 2010 to $14.9 billion in 2011. There is also a 5.7% growth between Q1 ($7.26 billion) of the year to Q2 ($7.68 billion). Here is an historical overview of the internet advertising revenue:

We can see from this chart that since 2002 the internet advertising revenue is steadily growing except of 2009 (the economic crisis) and last year’s ad revenue (sums at $26.04 billion) reflected an increase of 322% within a decade ($8.08 billion in 2000).

This year’s advertising revenue will almost certainly break last year all time record as traditionally the second half of the year is stronger than the first one, so we should expect more than 15% rise.

Online Advertising Share Concentration

Even though the internet advertising revenue is constantly growing, only small portion of companies holds most of the share. The top 10 online companies holds 72%, the top 25 online companies holds 82% and the top 50 online companies holds 89%.

Although the revenue concentration went down from the last decade (the top 50 online companies held close to 100%), the internet advertising revenue is still very concentrated under the command of the top 50 leading ad-selling companies.

Leading Ad Formats

Search advertising reinforced its status as the most dominant ad format- It accounted for 49% of the revenue in the first 6 months of 2011, up from 47% in the first 6 months in 2010.

Display/banner advertising held its ground at 23%, but i think its pretty safe to assume that it will grow its share in the future, mostly thanks to social networks (Interactive Marketing Spending report) and especially to Facebook (All Social Advertising Roads Leads To Facebook).