ABSTRACT
Within a short span of six years, the Internet has evolved into an important medium for advertisers and marketers for both branding and direct-selling purposes. As a central part of the fast-expanding digital economy, the Internet has attracted an enormous amount of advertising revenues. According to an industry report, Internet advertising revenue reached $4.62 billion in 1999 (lntemetAdvertising Bureau 1999). Although this is a small portion of overall advertising spending (estimated to be over $200 billion in 1999), total spending on the Internet has now exceeded that of outdoor advertising. Some predict that, by 2003, Internet advertising spending in the United States could grow to more than $13 billion (Internet Advertising Bureau 1999; Krishnamurthy 2000). Driving this rapid growth is the fact that the Internet has been drawing sizable audiences from other media. The number of Americans using the Internet has grown exponentially in the past few years, from fewer than 5 million in 1993 to as many as 110 million in 1999 (Department of Commerce 1999).
